Countdown to WKC Dog Show 2022: Meet Jade

In 2016, renowned owner, handler, and breeder Valerie Nunes-Atkinson and three year-old C.J. won Best in Show at the world’s most celebrated canine competition, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which culminates at Madison Square Garden. (There is also the obligatory media tour that follows victory for owner and dog which includes cameos at every morning show and news outlet in the city. There’s a picture of CJ carrying the Wall Street Journal through the NewsCorp building which is among my personal favorites.)

Last September, Nunes-Atkinson tragically lost C.J. to a rare and abrupt illness.

Now, CJ daughter Jade is continuing the story, already coming within a paw’s length of taking Best in Show at Westminster this summer at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, NY.

Jade’s victory would make Nunes-Atkinson only the second three-time BIS winner with three different dogs in the history of WKC, thereby tying the record, WKC spokeswoman Gail Miller Bisher told TCR.

In case you missed it, be sure to read our story of 2016 Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show winner German short-haired pointer C.J., which we’re making available without a subscription as we countdown to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show’s return to NYC in January 2022.

Valerie Nunes-Atkinson and CJ daughter Jade competing at this year’s WKC Dog Show in Tarrytown, New York at the Lyndhurst Estate: