Thanksgiving at my house is always defined by a couple of things: watching the Macy’s parade on television, my mother’s compulsive need to clean everything, the kitchen smelling incredible, and— most importantly— The National Dog Show. NBC Sports started airing the dog show on Thanksgiving in 2002 – roughly five years after I was born. We must have watched it ever since then because I honestly don’t think I can remember a Thanksgiving without it.
The nice thing about the dog show is that everyone in my family watches it together. We leave the parade on, but no one’s really as into it now. And football? Eh, not a big deal in our house, but we all love dogs.
The memories of my whole family (including our two dogs) packed on the couch together watching the show is always great to reflect on. Even as years have gone by, and less of us are around to cuddle, we all still love the dog show. Every year, without fail, we either record it, stream it online, or FaceTime each other while we’re watching it.
As past Westie owners, we usually root for the breed, which is officially known as the West Highland White Terrier. Sadly, the Westie rarely makes it to Best in Show, let alone wins (one did make it in 2016 though!). At the end of each round, we all make our guesses in what’s kind of an even-lower-stakes-betting situation. I used to be terrible at it and just picked my own favorite, but after all this time even I’ve gotten pretty good at reading the judges.
While we all gather around the table, the National Dog Show has become a central bonding moment in our Thanksgiving. Even when the Westie doesn’t win, we can all be grateful for each other and for how freaking cute dogs are.
Except we don’t really get how poodles almost always win…