Local representation was on full display this week at the famed Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show—from the agility course to the breed ring. Many of the handlers and dogs competing shared a common link: Dream Dogs Training Center, a Saugerties-based facility that helps bring canine talent to the fore.
The 2026 Westminster event was especially notable, marking the 150th anniversary of the second-longest-running sporting event in the United States, behind only the Kentucky Derby. Andi Turco-Levin, the founder of Dream Dogs, estimated that “easily” 15 people who train or have trained at the facility have gone on to show at Westminster. She ran two of her own Westies, Cricket and Dani, in the agility trials this year.
Dream Dogs is a place for Hudson Valley residents to teach their dogs agility, conformation, tracking, and other skills. Andi Turco-Levin, the center’s founder, said the inspiration for the center began at Westminster.
“When I went to the Masters Agility Championship at Westminster in 2014 as a spectator, I thought how much fun that would be,” said Turco-Levin, of Kingston. “I entered my first trial, and three years later, I was able to qualify. The next year I made the finals.”
That first West Highland white terrier she showed, her beloved Kirby who died in 2020, went on to become the top agility Westie in the country three years in a row. “Westminster was the catalyst of all of this for me,” she said.
When she began, Turco-Levin started “going all over” for the training and agility trials she sought: New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut. “There was no place to do it all locally, so I decided it would be my dream to create it.”
Turco-Levin, a longtime realtor who previously worked in radio broadcasting and record-company marketing, served as a Kingston alderwoman and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011 and for the Ulster County Legislature in 2019. She is married to renowned bass player and composer Tony Levin.
“It’s been a huge learning curve for someone who went from being a real estate agent for so many years to running a dog training center,” Turco-Levin said.
She opened Dream Dogs in March 2023, in a pair of state-of-the-art buildings comprising 17,000 square feet, on Industrial Drive, off Old Kings Highway.
Agility training remains a cornerstone of the facility, but agility is far from the only focus. Dream Dogs also offers puppy classes, basic manners, obedience, rally, scent training, and trick classes. Trainers from around the world—including Italy and Slovenia—present seminars and workshops.
“We started out with only a few agility trials a year,” Turco-Levin said. “Now we have about 30 days of agility trials a year, as well as obedience trials.”
The center also hosts classes in breed handling, known as conformation—the part of dog showing that most of us associate with the prime-time Westminster event we so enjoy viewing annually. Spoiler alert: This year’s best in show went to a stunning Doberman pinscher named Penny.
“I have taken quite a few sets of classes at Dream Dogs,” said Debbie Quick, who owns two Welsh springer spaniels, Victoria and Crystal, both entered in the breed ring at this year’s show. She said Joyce Adams-Taylor, who teaches conformation classes at Dream Dogs, assisted her setup at the Javits Center. Adams-Taylor also has exhibited her Cairn terriers at Westminster.
“Joyce does a great job; she teaches the little things that you forget,” Quick said, as Victoria lounged in her crate after winning a “select” award. “And it’s a beautiful facility.”
Andrew Peel, a professional handler since 1991, lives in Kerhonkson and showed an Irish terrier, Stuggie, to an award of merit at this year’s Westminster. He has brought young Afghan hounds and biewer terriers, a toy breed recently recognized by the American Kennel Club, to handling classes at Dream Dogs for several years.
“I go to socialize the dogs so that they get to know the swing of things,” he said. “It helps to get them familiar with other dogs, get them to know what to do in the ring. Get them away from home and have someone else touch them.” Dream Dogs, he said, is a useful, and convenient, place to acclimate puppies to the show ring.
Turco-Levin said that accessibility is central to the center’s mission. “Anything you want to do with your dogs, we’ll give you the opportunity,” she said. “No matter what you think you can do, if you put your mind to it, the places you can go together are remarkable.”
She credited the Westminster Kennel Club with setting her on that path. “I thank my dogs for bringing me there.”
And with the popularity of Dream Dogs, she is hopeful that owner-canine bonds will deepen.
“Dogs really make us better people,” Turco-Levin said. “The fact that we do all of these things here with our dogs is terrific, because what better thing is there than to give them a place to be happy?”
Cynthia Werthamer is a contributing reporter. Send correspondence to reporting@theoverlooknews.com.