We at SB Nation are big fans of dogs. We subscribe to the @dog_rates philosophy that all dogs are good, so much so that we have a section dedicated exclusively to Good Dogs. So it comes as no surprise that we’re looking forward to the Westminster Dog Show this February, and the fact that, as they announced at a conference on Monday, there will be new breeds competing, which you can see over at the New York Times.
2017 Westminster Dog Show will feature one cat, which is an injustice to Good Dogs everywhere
There’s one addition to the show that caught our eye, though: There’s going to be a cat. The cat’s name is Jungletrax Abiding Ovation, which sounds like a name for a UK drum & bass producer. This is what Jungletrax looks like:
Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press
And yes, Jungletrax looks cute (look at her spots!), but having her at the Dog Show seems [pause for dramatic effect] sacrilegious.
Now, don’t get me wrong — cats are dope. I will spend hours upon hours watching videos of cats being adorable and/or being assholes to their owners. Case in point: Polygon’s Griffin McElroy and his cat Cecil.
The adorable quality that cats have is on par with dogs, and if there was a cat show (of course there’s at least one) in town, I’d buy a ticket. If I bought a ticket to a dog show, and there was a cat in the program, I would feel cheated. “I did not pay to see a cat,” I would say. “I’m sure the cat is a good cat, but I paid to see good dogs, Brent. That was false advertising, Bront.”
I predict the cat portion of the Westminster Dog Show won’t go over well, and there’s evidence of that: The Simpsons episode “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show.” In that episode, the beloved, violent, cat-and-mouse duo Itchy & Scratchy is losing popularity, so in an effort to regain interest in the show, the producers add a new character: a dog named Poochie. It sounds promising at first, but once they produce an episode with Poochie (with Homer voicing him), it doesn’t go over well. The quality’s diluted and the show loses sight of what made it great in the first place. The producers eventually kill off Poochie, giving us that famous send off:
Which is to say, cats and dogs weren’t meant to be entertainment partners. The Westminster Dog Show featuring a cat will just end up like that Simpsons episode, except the part where the cat goes back to her home planet.
