Westminster Dog Show Preview Debuts 7 New Breeds

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP)-- The nation's premier dog show will feature a bumper crop of seven new breeds this year, ranging from a rugged South African watchdog to an Italian truffle-sniffing specialist.

Next month's Westminster Kennel Club show also newly includes an obedience competition. An agility contest was added in 2014. Both are open to mixed-breed dogs.

In the traditional breed judging, the seven newcomers represent the most additions since at least 2000. They were spotlighted at a news conference Thursday at Madison Square Garden, where the best in show will be chosen on Feb. 16.

PHOTOS: 2016 Westminster Dog Show Preview

They are: the Bergamasco, the berger Picard, the Boerboel, the Cirneco dell'Etna, the lagotto Romagnolo, the miniature American shepherd and the Spanish water dog.

"There will be one of each of these breeds. Whoever won the breed during the earlier judging in the daytime will then advance on closer and closer to the most precious of all, which is the best in show," Gail Miller Bisher, director of communications for the Westminster Kennel Club, told 1010 WINS.

Bisher says while the new breeds are just getting accustomed to the "dog show world," nothing is out of the picture for these pups.

"It could certainly happen. You never know what's going to happen at a dog show, that's the wonderful thing about it," she added.

Breeds are added as they earn recognition from the American Kennel Club. Criteria include having several hundred dogs of the breed nationwide.

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