Sea Cliff resident to judge her second Westminster Dog Show

History and asking “why?” are at the heart of Denise Flaim’s dog judging journey. The Sea Cliff resident and journalist will judge her second Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Feb. 2 and 3. This year marks the show’s 150th anniversary.

Flaim grew up in Queens and moved to Sea Cliff in 1993 after covering a story for Newsday that brought her to the village for the first time. She had a mixed breed dog growing up but wanted a medium-large dog with a short coat after moving to Sea Cliff. She got her first show dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Blitz, from a breeder in New Jersey. She later got a female named Diva and began breeding Rhodesian Ridgebacks herself in the late 1990s.

Q: How did journalism and writing and dogs get tied together for you?

A: “A lot of judges come to judging because they were really heavily involved breeders, and having very large and successful breeding programs was a very big goal of theirs. I had a very small breed program, bred my fair share of champions, but I was more intrigued with the history of the breeds and their cultural connections, and how that history translated into what they look like, how they moved, how they acted. So I see purebred dogs as literally an embodiment of history, because every breed comes from a specific place and time, and all the cultural implications of that place and time are reflected in almost every aspect of the dog, from what its coat is like, to its size, to its behavior, because all these dogs had jobs, and certain jobs require certain physical and temperamental characteristics. So, I see judging dogs as really a way to catapult back into history and to look at how these dogs evolved, who evolved them, what they were used for. In that respect, for me as a journalist, as someone who’s always asking ‘Why?’ it becomes this amazing process of exploration that literally never ends, because every day you can learn something new.”

Q:How do you feel about this being your second assignment with Westminster?

A: “Especially on that significant 150-year anniversary it’s such a huge honor to be judging my own breed at Westminster. All breeds are important to me, and I love them all. But there’s a special place in your heart for the breed you live with. Your own breed is sort of like your own house -- you know every creek in the step, you know that spot in the kitchen where the sun hits just so. It’s a very familiar sensation to be judging a breed that you’ve lived a good part of your life with and have so many connections with.”

Q:What’s next for you and your dog judging journey?

A: ”I’m very fortunate to have judged at some prestigious shows, both here and abroad. I’m going to continue judging because there’s never a stopping point. What’s next is the next show. What’s next is the next dog and then just growing your experience and your fluency in these breeds, because each breed is its own country, with its own language is its own country, with its own language, its own customs, its own priorities. Every time I judge, every time I talk to a breeder, every time I have the opportunity to learn, it adds to my fluency in a breed. You’re never going to be 100 percent. You’re never going to know everything, and that’s the wonderful part, because I think the problem that we have now is nobody asks ‘Why?’ anymore. Nobody says, ‘Well, why does that dog have that coat? Why is that foot shaped that way? Why does the standard make that a disqualification? That must be really important; where does that come from? If the standard doesn’t want that particular trait, why? Where did it come from? What impact does that have on the dog, if the dog has it?’ ”

Flaim will be judging in Sweden later this month and in the Dominican Republic in April.