Westminster Dog Show’s dog athletes put their legs on super bowl -weekend

NEW YORK (AP) – They are at the top of their sport. They run, weave and go in the air. And they went all the way for this weekend’s championship.

Sorry – No, they are not the leaders or the Eagles. They are the agility dogs at the Westminster Kennel Club ShowThat started on Saturday with presenting agility and other dog sports.

Dog Folk often calls Westminster the Super Bowl with dog shows, and the comparison can mainly fit this year. The most prestigious dog competition in the United States is open in the same weekend as that of Pro Football Super bowlthat characterizes The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles On Sunday. The rare coincidence comes after the dates of both competitions have shifted in recent years.

“I always said that I wanted people to call the Super Bowl ‘the Westminster of Football’,” said dog expert David Frei, who has a foot in both worlds: he used to work in publicity for the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers .

The Westminster of football? Well, Westminster is, after all, 90 years older than the Super Bowl.

And there have been some other connections between the Gridiron and the green carpet of Westminster. Los Angeles Chargers Defensive End Morgan Fox Eenigen co-owner of a French bulldog who came in a smushy-nose length of winning Westminster in 2022 and wash A finalist the following year. (Many other NFL players also have dogs for fun, if not for the show, including Kansas City Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.)

Whatever the analogy is, at Westminster there was a triumph for Guster the Rescue Pug. He and owner Steve Martin took up agility after Guster started to wag with his tail and tilted his head while watching Westminster Agility Contest on TV a few years ago.

“We never thought we would be here. And now we are here, “said Martin, from Austin, Texas, Saturday.

A Border Collie called Vanish won the competition, with around 300 dogs at the champion level.

“She is very intuitive, very natural – probably smarter than me,” said Handler Emily Klarman from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a Fox interviewer in the ring. While Klarman said that the victory initially left her speechless, Vanish had a lot to say, barking enthusiastically.

A special price for the best competitor of mixed breed went to Gable, handled by Kayla Feeney from Lima, New York.

Westminster Agility added in 2014First mark the show of the show Event with dogs with mixed varieties Since the 19th century. Last year The first winner of the winner of mixed-varietyA Border Collie-Papillon mix called Nimble, who again participated this year.

She is a deliberate mix of two top height races. But the sport also attracts rescue dogs such as an Australian cattle dog mix called Sawyer, or simply soy sauce.

His owner, Dr. Amy Ondeyka, has a complicated work schedule as a doctor in the First Aid and EMS Medical Director in New Jersey. But she made time for agility after she realized that she had adopted a super-energy dog ​​that opens cupboards, unpacks things and otherwise causes domestic chaos when they are bored.

“He is always exciting – he does ridiculous things,” said Ondeyka, jumping in her arms at somewhat apparently down time between agility runs. “We have fun, regardless of what happens.”

While some dogs do agility to burn energy, the sport helps others out of their shell. Tully, a lanky, rugged, mostly Labradoodle -Mix, used to be “afraid of the world”, but is now enthusiastic to go according to agility lessons and competitions, said owner Carla Rash.

Saturday’s competitors were a spectrum of dogdom, from a large loot to a 7 pound (0.9 kilogram) Papillon, and they include lesser-known varieties like a large Munsterlanderer and A Danish-Swedish farm.

They navigated jumps, tunnels, slopes and other obstacles while handler gave hand and speech signals. The goal is to be the fastest without making mistakes.

Regardless of the scores, some dogs have won cheers from spectators. There was a Bichon Frise with its tail painted blue, a standard poodle that took a relaxed trot over an A-frame slope, and a curly coated mix that apparently had second thoughts about the weaving posts, round circled and went through again.

Westminster’s traditional, race-per-racle judgments takes place from Monday and Tuesday, covered by the coveted best in the show prize Tuesday evening.

That is only for Purebreds, but dogs with mixed varieties were also eligible for Saturday’s obedience match, an event that Westminster Added in 2016. The main prize went to Willie, an Australian shepherd who also won in 2022 with Handler Kathleen Keller from Flemington, New Jersey.

Steve Wesler wore a Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt while he encouraged partner Jennifer Weinik and Cookie, her Belgian Malinois. They got away with a ribbon that Wessler considered more exciting than the Super Bowl – because he was convinced that the Eagles would have the upper hand.

There are no cash prizes at Westminster, but the winners of agility and obedience each receive a donation of $ 5,000 to a training club or the American Kennel Club Humane Fund.

The show also contained Westminster’s first demonstration of Flyball, a dog relay race where a ball is collected.

“It’s a lot of organized chaos,” said Hillary Brown after competing with her Boston Terrier, Paxil. His teammates in a team in York, in Pennsylvania named Clean Break were a standard poodle, a border collie and a Whippet-Borde Collie Mix.

“It’s great. The dogs love it, “said Brown.

This story corrects that the dog named Cookie won a ribbon, not the general price, in obedience.