Westminster: Meet and Compete

Meet the Breeds and Masters Agility Championship

A Border Collie from Rhode Island named Trick won the the 3rd Annual Masters Agility Championship at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Saturday.

Here’s a video of his exciting run courtesy of Fox Sports.

(Does anyone else think it’s weird the announcer is giving Trick’s owner and handler John all the credit?)

Day one of Westminster Kennel Club’s dog show weekend in New York City was dubbed Meet and Compete. It was “two events in one”: The Masters Agility Championship and the American Kennel Club’s Meet The Breeds dog fair. Meet and Compete took place at Piers 92 and 94 on Manhattan’s West Side.

The Masters Agility Championship featured dogs and their handlers attacking an obstacle course of jumps, tunnels, weave poles, and more. It’s a race against the clock. The best time won. Trick took the trophy with a time of 32.65 seconds! He beat out more than 300 other dogs. Unlike other Westminster events, mixed breed dogs are allowed to compete in the agility trials.

The eighth annual Meet the Breeds event gave people an opportunity to get up close and personal with more than 100 different breeds in booths scattered across both piers. Enthusiasts manned each booth to answer questions about each breed’s country of origin, historical purpose, and attributes as family pets. The event was staged by the AKC.

As usual, the event was very crowded!

Here is a small sample of the dogs we saw at Meet the Breeds. First up, a Keeshond.

People got a chance to interact with various breeds. Here are people petting an Akita puppy.

Here’s a Bergamasco Shepherd.

This is a Bull Terrier. Famous Bull Terriers include Bullseye, Target’s mascot, and Bud Light’s Spuds MacKenzie.

This is the Great Pyrenees.

This is the American Hairless Terrier, newly recognized by the AKC.

An Ibizan Hound.

This is a Poodle. Made of flowers. Yes, dog people are weird.

This year cats made their return to the Meet the Breeds event. The International Cat Association gave folks a chance to to meet and play with more than thirty different cat breeds.

It was long day for people and the dogs.

Very long.

Time to go!