Lou Auslander dies; Westminster ‘Best in Show’ judge ran Chicago IKC dog show

Lou Auslander organized an annual gathering that drew about 10,000 attendees with 40,000 legs.

Make that paws.

Mr. Auslander owned the International Kennel Club of Chicago and ran its dog shows. They became premier contests, attracting entrants from throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. It wasn’t unusual for the four-day event, long held in February at McCormick Place, to draw 10,000 dogs.

Mr. Auslander, who’d moved from Chicago to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, died Monday in hospice care, according to his granddaughter Lindsey Hartman. He was 94.

A breeder of whippets, miniature schnauzers and fox terriers, he was respected for his knowledge and fairness. That led to an invitation to judge the No. 1 category at one of the most prestigious dog competitions in the world.

In 1987, he was asked to choose “Best in Show” at the renowned Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, a 142-year-old competition held at Madison Square Garden in New York that’s been likened to the Academy Awards for canines.

As “Best in Show” judge, Mr. Auslander studied winners from seven categories — working, sporting, hounds, terriers, toys, non-sporting and herding — and decided the top dog was Manhattan, the first German shepherd to win the coveted honor.

“When a judge gets excited and his heart skips a beat, that’s what dog show judging is all about,” he told The New York Times.

Because of Mr. Auslander, Chicago’s IKC shows “became a destination,” said Dennis Sprung, president and CEO of the New York-based American Kennel Club, the world’s largest not-for-profit registry for purebred dogs.

Mr. Auslander also was a founder of the AKC’s Museum of the Dog. And he was the only person in the AKC’s 135-year history to serve simultaneously as its chair and president. “He was a visionary,” Sprung said.

“He was really gung ho for ‘meet the breeds,’ ” said Susan Olsen, who worked for him at the IKC.

At his shows, “The dogs arrive early and stay on benches, except when they’re being shown,” Mr. Auslander once told the Chicago Sun-Times.

That way, prospective pet owners could meet dogs and ask and learn about different breeds, with the aim of fostering better-informed purchases and adoptions. “It gives people a chance to come to one place and see all the dogs,” Mr. Auslander said.

“If you’re a rich person, you have horses,” Mr. Auslander told the Sun-Times in 1986. “If you’re an average person, you compete with dogs.”

He grew up on the North Side. His mother, born Mollie Gross, was a Polish immigrant who operated a Rogers Park drapery business. His cabdriver father Frank was from Romania, according to Mr. Auslander’s daughter Sindy Schneider.

Young Lou learned to play violin, root for the Cubs and pitch for the baseball team at Roosevelt High School. He served stateside in the Army during World War II, relatives said, and went on to co-found Alpine Construction.

In 1945, he met Seme Harris, his future wife. He was on the beach at Michiana Shores, Indiana, and saw her rowing. When she came to shore, he struck up a conversation. They were married from 1947 until her death in 2004.

After the couple bought Max, a miniature schnauzer, they fell in love with the breed.

“It snowballed, and they started raising schnauzers,” their daughter said.

The Auslanders also were drawn to whippets, especially their show dog Archie.

They lived at first on the North Side. But whelping litters meant they needed space. And sometimes having more than a dozen dogs at a time, they moved to about five acres in Lake Forest.

Mr. Auslander spoke out against efforts to ban certain breeds. “He was very much for ‘punish the deed, not the breed,’ ” Olsen said.

In Florida, he helped oversee construction of an $11 million spay-and-neuter hospital for the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“It has really been a game changer for animals,” said Heidi Nielsen, the league’s assistant director. “The building allowed us to do high-volume spay-neuter.”

He also worked to rescue pets displaced by Hurricane Katrina, according to the AKC.

In addition to his daughter Sindy and granddaughter Lindsey, Mr. Auslander is survived by his son Carter, six more grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Services have been held.