Westminster Dog Show 2012: Cindy Vogels Will Judge ‘Best in Show’

By Julia Greenberg | February 14 2012 6:44 PM

Cindy Vogels will determine the winner of the prestigious Best in Show competition at the 136th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show late Tuesday. The grand finale of the highly competitive event will feature the seven winners from the Sporting, Non-Sporting, Herding, Toy, Working, Hound and Terrier groups.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Cindy Vogels will determine the winner of the prestigious "Best in Show" competition at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show late Tuesday. The grand finale of the highly competitive event will feature the seven winners from the Sporting, Non-Sporting, Herding, Toy, Working, Hound and Terrier groups.

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Vogels has judged at the Westminster Dog Show five times in the past and judged the Terrier Group in 2005. She has judged over 18 Best in Show competitions throughout the United States as well as countless breed-specific competitions in the Toy, Terrier, Sporting and Junior Showmanship groups.

Vogels has been involved in the show dog world for over fifty years. She first became interested in dogs in high school when she showed Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers with her mother, Jackie Gottlieb, in the late 1960s.

As a mother-daughter team, Vogels and Gottlieb have bred over one hundred American Champions, group and Best in Show winners, including the top producing Terrier dam of all time, CH. Glenworth Andover Answer. While Vogels produces primarily Soft Coated Weaten Terriers, she has also bred champion Brittanys, Greyhounds, and Kerry Blue, Welsh and Norfolk Terriers.

The Colorado-based judge is also very involved in dog health and breed associations. She is currently the chairman of the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. She has also worked as the president of the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of America and served on the board of trustees for Take the Lead, which assists those in the sport who suffer from terminal or life-threatening illnesses.

In addition to her career in the dog world, Vogels studied flute at the New England Conservatory of Music and she has a Master of Music degree in history from the University of Colorado.