Did you catch a whiff of grooming spray emanating from Midtown this weekend? That can only mean one thing: the world's preeminent celebration of adorable inbred dogs, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, is back in town! The annual celebration of all things dog (except... mutts) landed at Piers 92 and 94 on Saturday and Sunday, so that thousands of locals could swing by (for a price) and pay homage to each and every one of them with a courteous and much-appreciated pet on the head.
On Saturday, there were around 325 dogs who took part in the agility contest, which consisted of various courses filled with jumps, tunnels, ramps, and other obstacles. If you spend any time milling about the room, you're bound to make a ton of friends and learn some strange details about them. There was Hops, the Border Collie who gets stressed out if the crowds get too rowdy. There was Champ and Phil, the Dalmatian brothers who love to smell like Citronella. There was Elvis, the American Cocker Spaniel who gets three baths a day at his home in Florida. And there was Miles, the first Welsh Terrier to compete in the agility contest (who loves the music of his namesake Miles Davis, naturally).
Niner the seven-year-old pug, who made her Westminster debut this year, loves egg whites at 3 a.m. Whimsy the Borzoi has figured out how to open the fridge at home, so her owners have to keep a baby lock on it now. Toretto the Red Bone Coon Hound loves reflections, and tries to pounce on anything shiny on the ground. And of course there's Tillie, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever—she's a vicious sock hoarder.
You can see lots of photos above, and videos below, of them in action and between events.
While every single dog there was brave, courageous, and perfect, the powers that be insist upon choosing individual winners. And the big winner of this particular contest was P!nk, a border collie named after the singer who took the agility title. Once you watch her in action below, weaving and darting and racing through the course and into the arms of her handler Jennifer Crank, you'll understand why.
