Trivia
Years before work on this film began, Christopher Guest wrote down the words "catalog people" on a piece of paper. That simple idea eventually became Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock's characters in this film.
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All the scenes featuring numerous dogs went remarkably smoothly. There is only one unscripted bark in the film, heard in the background as Christy and Sherri Ann argue over Christy's makeup backstage.
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Fred Willard's character Buck Laughlin was based on baseball legend Joe Garagiola, who had co-hosted the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in years past, to similar effect.
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The clocks on the wall behind the reception counter at the hotel are all deliberately set to Eastern Standard Time for the cities of Boston, New York, Baltimore, Miami, and Philadelphia.
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Real judges and professional handlers were used for most of the judges. The professional handlers also served as technical advisers for the actors in how to handle the dogs in the ring.
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Fred Willard (Buck Laughlin) was specifically instructed by Christopher Guest to not do any research on dogs. Jim Piddock (Trevor Beckwith), on the other hand, had to do a lot of dog research so that his character would appear knowledgeable. As a result, Guest says some viewers are surprised to learn Piddock is not a real dog show judge.
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According to Fred Willard, on his last day of shooting, he was kept waiting in his trailer for so long that he decided to quit acting. He changed his mind after he was finally called to the set.
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