Get ready for your early May plans: it’s almost time for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
The impressive show returns for the 147th time, when dogs from over 200 unique breeds will showcase their skills in New York. It is the second-longest sporting event in US history (after the Kentucky Derby) and this year’s event will last for four days.
What is the Westminster Kennel Club dog show?
Organized by the American Kennel Club, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show brings together thousands of exceptional dogs to compete in a number of highly regarded events, including speed competitions. gentle and obedient.
The judges are aiming to assess the quality of the current breed and the winning breeders will be rewarded based on their ability to produce and train the next generation of dogs. Dogs are divided into several categories: sporting, hunting, working, hunting, toy, non-sporting and herding dogs. Each dog will be assigned by its owner to compete in the Masters Agility, Masters Obedience, Junior Showmanship or Best In Show championships.
Qualifiers ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022, and the top dogs in each qualifying category were invited to the national event.
Where will it be held?
The event will be held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the same venue as the US Open. The tournament was previously held in New York City from its founding in 1877 to 2020, but has moved to Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, NY for 2021 and 2022. This will be the first time the tournament is held in Bille Jean King Tennis Center.
Notably, Best in Show, All Groups, all Toys, all Terriers and the Showmanship Junior Finals will be held on artificial turf at Arthur Ashe Stadium (which is part of the Pants Center). National racket). All evaluations and obedience of other breeds will take place on artificial turf in a tented court.
When, and how can I watch?
The schedule is as follows:
Sunday May 7, 2023
10th Anniversary Agility Masters Championship Finals: 2:00-4:30 p.m. ET, FOX App, FOX NOW, and FOX Sports App
Monday, May 8, 2023
Select Eligibility for the Breeding and Young Performer Preliminaries: 1:00-4:00 p.m. ET, FOX NOW App and FOX Sports App
Pre-show programming: 7:00pm – 7:30pm ET, FS1
Group Assessment (Hunting, Toy, Non-Sports and Herding Groups): 7:00-11:00 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX NOW App and FOX Sports App
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Select the Eligibility of the Breed Assessment and Young Performer Preliminaries: 1:00-4:00 p.m. ET, FS2, FOX NOW App and FOX Sports App
Pre-show programming: 7:00pm-7:30pm ET, FS1
Group Review (Sports, Work and Hound Teams followed by Best in Show): 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX NOW App and FOX Sports App
FOX Deportes will cover the contest in Spanish.
How it works?
Each dog will compete with the other dogs in the selected group and will be awarded points based on how many dogs it can beat. So the more dogs participate in any event, the more points the winner will get.
Dogs will be assessed against a pre-written standard detailing the ideal dog based on a number of factors such as height, weight, coat, color, eye color and shape, ear shape, table paws, tails, etc. Four dogs considered the Best Breed will continue to compete in the Best of the Group competitions, and the best of them will vie for the coveted Best In Show title.
What should I know about events?
The competition will begin with the Master Agility Championship, in which dogs compete against each other in a pair of preliminary standard agility rounds (jumping and intertwining), and timed based on their speed. they. 50 finalists are selected from that pool (10 from five respective height classes) to compete for the Champion crown.
This is followed by the Obedience section, which begins with some signaling exercises and ends with a six-minute obedience routine created by each owner. After that, the Children’s Performing Arts Finals and Group Review will follow, and the event culminates with the Best Performance competition.
Who won last year?
Trumpet the Bloodhound was awarded Best In Show after luring the judges with his adorable face and showing off his flirting skills. Trumpet overcame three other dogs — Hollywood the Maltese (Toy Team), Winston the French Bulldog (Non-Sporting Team) and River the German Shepherd (Cattle Team) to take home the championship.
Trumpet beat more than 3,500 other dogs from 49 states and 9 other countries. this is a comprehensive list of all winners.
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