Barry Bonds and His Miniature Schnauzer Made Their Westminster Dog Show Debut

In Monday’s Hot Clicks: the home run king’s new competitive outlet, the questionable call that sent Nikola Jokić packing and more.

Barry Bonds is at the top of a different game now

Sports fans tuning in to the Westminster Dog Show on Sunday would have spotted a surprisingly familiar face. Baseball’s all-time leading home run hitter Barry Bonds was in the house, not as a fan but as the owner of one of the dogs.

Bonds is a dog enthusiast, but this is the first time one of his own has made it to the big show. Hearing that Bonds, the formerly muscle-bound slugger, had entered a dog named Rocky in the WKC show, most people would probably picture a boxer, or a Great Dane, or some other kind of similarly hulking breed. But no, Rocky is a miniature schnauzer.

Bonds was interviewed on FS1 about his interest in show dogs and explained that it was his sister who got him interested in miniature schnauzers about 25 years ago. Rocky (who is female) spends all of her time in North Carolina with her trainer, but Bonds is still the owner.

Bonds’s first big dog show accomplishment came in 2019 when his schnauzer Apollo was ranked first in the country.

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And here is Rocky at just five months old, alongside another of Bonds’s dogs, Adrienne.

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Yes, all three of them have names inspired by the Rocky movies. During his FS1 interview, Bonds casually mentioned that the names aren’t just a nod to his love of the films. They’re also a reference to the fact that he used to live next to Sylvester Stallone. 

Rocky ended up earning Select Dog honors (basically third place) in the Best of Breed competition.

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