By Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff
On June 22, a bloodhound named Trumpet made dog show history. He won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in in Tarrytown, New York. A bloodhound is a large-sized dog breed with a very keen sense of smell. It was the first time the breed has ever received the Best in Show prize.
Trumpet beat out several other breeds to take home the trophy. They included a French bulldog, a German shepherd, a Maltese, an English setter, a Samoyed and a Lakeland terrier.
“I was shocked,” said Heather Helmer. She handles Trumpet in the ring. She is also his co-owner. The competition was stiff, “and sometimes I feel the bloodhound is a bit of an underdog,” she said.
After his victory, Trumpet posed patiently for countless photos. Eventually he started to do what bloodhounds do best. He sniffed around! He checked out some decorative flowers that had been set up for the pictures. But he didn’t find anything interesting.
Winston is a French bulldog. He took second in the nation’s most prestigious dog show. He is co-owned by Morgan Fox, a football player with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I’m just so proud of him and the whole team,” Fox said.
Fox said he knew the dog was a winner in both appearance and character. He went into Westminster as the top-ranked dog in the country.
“He’s a joy to be around,” Fox said by phone before Winston’s award. “He always walks around with as much of a smile on his face as a dog can have.”
The competition drew more than 3,000 purebred dogs. They were all kinds of breeds, from affenpinschers to Yorkshire terriers. The goal is to crown the dog that most represents the ideal for its breed.
The event usually happens in Madison Square Garden in New York City. But for the past two years, the show moved to the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown, New York, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some dogs faced dozens of competitors just to win their breed and move on to the semifinals. Others breeds are more rare, with only a few dogs representing them.
Take Ooma, for example. She was the only Chinook that showed up. Chinooks are a breed of sled dogs. They are the official dog of the state of New Hampshire. But they are rare nationwide.
Patti Richards is Ooma’s breeder, owner and handler. She is from West Haven, Vermont. She said she wants to see more Chinooks compete in the Westminster ring. “Without people who will show and breed, we’re in danger of losing our breed,” she said.
Not every dog could come away with a ribbon. Still, the event was an opportunity to showcase dogs and all they can do.
By Tribune Content Agency, adapted by Newsela staff
To teach a dog to surf, you first need to get it used to being on a board in the water. It's best to start off somewhere calm, such as the bay.
If your dog likes the experience, the move to the ocean should be easy. But as with humans, you need to start small before working up to bigger waves.
And if you're lucky, your dog might just end up taking part in the World Dog Surfing Championship. It is held each year in Northern California.
This year’s contest took place on August 6 at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, California. Hundreds of humans and dogs came along to watch. The first competitors — Samson and Carson — got ready for their moment in the spotlight.
"Welcome to the 2022 World Dog Championships!" the announcer shouted over the loudspeakers, as the crowd cheered and dogs barked. "Get ready to cheer these dogs on ... we've got some big waves out there today!"
The dogs ran out to the water with their human owners. The crowd followed down the beach to get a closer look as the dogs rode waves selected by their people.
Samson is a 14-year-old spaniel. He missed one wave, his tiny body tossed briefly underwater as the crowd gasped. But moments later, he popped up again, still on his board as his owner steadied it. The audience cheered in relief as Samson looked toward his owner, tail wagging.
Meanwhile, Carson was riding a surfboard with his picture on it. His little yellow lifejacket attracted a lot of attention. After successfully riding a wave in, Samson briefly jumped off his board to trot around and look at his many fans. His owner picked him up and brought him back to the water for another round.
But not every dog in attendance was excited about the ocean. A goldendoodle named Waffles started running toward the dry sand as soon as the end of a wave brushed her paw. "She's not a water dog!" her owner said.
But for the star competitors, the water was a great place to be. During the event, a team of judges awarded each dog a score. It was based on how long they could stay on the board, how well they rode the wave and any bonus tricks they could do.
Rusty is a 5-year-old bulldog. He was waiting patiently on the sand while watching his favorite surfing partner, Skyler. Skyler was catching a few waves on his own before the two were scheduled to surf together. They would ride the same board in the tandem section of the competition.
Rusty wore a bright orange life vest. Every now and then, he would whine and pull toward the water, glancing up at his owner's father, Sam Garcia, with pleading eyes. Garcia's son John owns Rusty. John helps out as a spotter, ready to rescue any pups who slip under the waves.
"He's anxious to get out there," Garcia said. "A lot of times bulldogs like him don't like the water, but he can't get enough." Rusty has been surfing for about four years, Garcia said.
Rusty and Skyler surf well together. Rusty likes to be at the front of the board and keep it steady. Skyler is just calm enough to keep the board balanced in the back.
The most popular event is the dog and human tandem surf. In this event, dogs ride at the top of very long surfboards with their humans in the back.
Mike Wall, who is 12 years old, surfed with his dog Faith. They braved the waves together as Mike's dad, James, waited in the water to help if they fell. It was Mike's first year surfing with his dog, and the crowd went wild.
"Not too long ago, he couldn't even swim," Wall said of his son Mike. "This is really great for him."
Kentucky Gallahue also surfed alongside his dog. Afterward, fans lined up to take a picture with him and his 10-year-old goldendoodle, Derby. The two wore matching blue mohawks and shiny blue sunglasses.
Gallahue offers lessons for people who want to teach their dogs to surf. However, Derby actually taught himself to surf. Gallahue moved to San Diego, California, from Atlanta, Georgia, six years ago. He wanted to learn to surf, so he went to the beach, figuring Derby could play with the other dogs while he rode the waves.
But Derby had other plans. He followed Gallahue out into the water, then hopped on the board himself to ride the wave in. After a few years, Gallahue said, he was a good enough surfer to ride with his dog. Now, they travel for competitions and work with nonprofit groups to support therapy dogs.
"I didn't ever think we'd end up doing this, but it's been the best thing ever," he said. "We're just putting smiles on people's faces."
Where did this year's World Dog Surfing Championship take place?
What did Samson do after missing a wave?
What factors did the judges consider when scoring the dogs?
Read the following paragraphs from the Introduction [paragraphs 1-4].
To teach a dog to surf, you first need to get it used to being on a board in the water. It's best to start off somewhere calm, such as the bay.
If your dog likes the experience, the move to the ocean should be easy. But as with humans, you need to start small before working up to bigger waves.
What is an accurate explanation of what these paragraphs mean?
Read the following paragraph from the section “The Crowd Cheered, Dogs Barked.”
Samson is a 14-year-old spaniel. He missed one wave, his tiny body tossed briefly underwater as the crowd gasped. But moments later, he popped up again, still on his board as his owner steadied it. The audience cheered in relief as Samson looked toward his owner, tail wagging.
Which sentence from the paragraph supports the conclusion that there can be some scary parts during the competition?
According to the section “Judges Award Scores To Surfing Dogs,” HOW do dogs and humans, like Rusty and Skyler, participate in the tandem surf event?
What effect did learning to surf with Derby have on Kentucky Gallahue?
By National Geographic Society, adapted by Newsela staff
Maps in the Middle Ages were believed to have the phrase, "Here be dragons." This was meant to represent unknown regions of the world. However, this phrase was rarely used.
Although there were no dragons, some of the earliest mapmakers did create records of the animals in their time. Human-made maps in the Stone Age are one example. These maps date back to the Paleolithic Period when woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primogenuis) roamed earth along with humans. More recent mapmakers, like the Babylonians, did tell of mythical beasts in their maps. The ancient Greeks traveled the world they knew in the spirit of cartography. Cartography is the study of maps.
The woolly mammoth was a relative of the elephant that lived in North America and Eurasia. Mammoths were around from 300,000 years ago to around 3,700 years ago. Early humans hunted mammoths for food. Sometimes, they also used mammoth tusks or bones to make maps.
The oldest map that has ever been discovered is a set of markings on a mammoth tusk. It is from around 25,000 years ago. The tusk was discovered in Central Europe. It includes engravings apparently representing a mountain, a river, valleys and trails around a town.
The European Magdalenian culture existed from 11,000 to 17,000 years ago. They appear to have carved a map onto a small stone tablet. The tablet was found in a cave in Abauntz, in northeast Spain. It has been dated to around 13,500 years ago.
The engraving shows rivers, mountains, ponds, animals and pathways. The map is believed to show a past hunt or a plan for a future one.
Several thousand years later, humans were making maps on the walls of buildings. In the southern Anatolian Plateau in modern Turkey, there are the two human-made mounds of Çatalhöyük. It is the site of a Neolithic village. The mounds were formed between 7400 and 5200 B.C.
Of particular interest to cartographers is a 3-meter-wide (10-foot) mural on a wall of one mound. It dates back to around 6600 B.C.The lower half of the mural shows tightly packed "cells" thought to represent a village. The upper half shows mountain peaks and dark spots that are believed to be a volcano.
The Babylonians lived in the Mesopotamian kingdom of Babylon. They produced the first known map of the world. This map, engraved on a clay tablet, shows Babylon at the center of the world.
The Babylonians used cuneiform, an ancient writing system, on this map. The map describes mythical creatures that they believed existed in other parts of the world. This map dates back to around 600 B.C.
Anaximander of Miletus was a Greek philosopher born around 610 B.C. He produced the first map of the world in Greece, though only descriptions and revisions have survived. Like the Babylonian map, his map was circular and featured Delphi, a town in Greece, at its center. Europe was on one side, with Asia on the other. The entire world was surrounded by water.
Hecataeus lived during the fifth century B.C. and improved on Anaximander's map. He traveled extensively and wrote an account of his travels in Asia. Hecataeus drew a map of the world based on Anaximander's and his own travels. This map is also lost.
Claudius Ptolemy was a Greek scholar who lived in Egypt around A.D. 100 to 170. He is known as the inventor of geography. Ptolemy invented a system of latitude and longitude, which is a coordinate system for locating places on Earth.
Maps created using Ptolemy's ideas were not known in Europe until the early 15th century. His maps had to be translated first. After this, some maps were created using his methods. These maps may have been used by explorer Christopher Columbus. From these maps, Columbus might have wrongly believed he could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe.
What does the phrase 'Here be dragons' represent on Middle Ages maps?
What does the oldest map discovered on a mammoth tusk show?
What does the lower half of the mural at Çatalhöyük represent?
What did Claudius Ptolemy invent that was important for locating places on Earth?
Read the following sentence from the Introduction [paragraphs 1-2].
More recent mapmakers, like the Babylonians, did tell of mythical beasts in their maps.
What is the meaning of the word "mythical" as it is used in the sentence?
The word "engravings" is essential to understanding how some older maps were made.
Which sentence from the article explains what "engravings" means?
If this article was organized in chronological order, which paragraph would come FIRST?
Read the Introduction [paragraphs 1-2] and the final section "Ancient Greek Maps."
What is one connection between these two sections?
What did Trumpet do after his victory?
Read the paragraph from the article.
The event usually happens in Madison Square Garden in New York City. But for the past two years, the show moved to the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown, New York, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
What conclusion can the reader make based on this paragraph?
Which sentence from the article helps the reader understand it is rare to see Chinooks at Westminster?
Read the selection from the article.
The event usually happens in Madison Square Garden in New York City. But for the past two years, the show moved to the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown, New York, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
What does the author mean by “usually”?
Read the sentences from the article.
Trumpet beat out several other breeds to take home the trophy. They included a French bulldog, a German shepherd, a Maltese, an English setter, a Samoyed and a Lakeland terrier.
What does the word “breeds” refer to?