2021 Westminster Dog Show Agility Competition: Verb steals show as repeat winner
Verb the Border Collie is the 2021 Masters Agility Champion – his second title in three years.
The 145th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was in full swing on Saturday with the highly anticipated Masters Agility Championship at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, N.Y., and three days before Verb's eighth birthday, he took home the best present: the title of 2021 WKC Masters Agility Champion!
The field was narrowed down from 350 dogs who participated in two rounds of agility preliminaries on Friday to 50 finalists who competed in five classes (8", 12", 16", 20" and 24") in the big tent for the title.
Border Collies were the top-represented breed in this year's agility challenge with 59 entries, and Verb represented his breed well by winning the 20" Class with a lightning-fast time of 31.30 seconds without a single fault. Verb beat out the other four Class winners to take home the trophy once again – he and his handler Perry DeWitt of Wyncote, Pennsylvania also won the title in 2019 with a time of 32.05 seconds.
Don't blink, or you might miss Verb's run!
And with a name like Verb, he was destined for greatness. He didn't miss a beat while blazing through the intricate course on Saturday.
Verb and the other finalists had to climb, balance, jump, weave and sprint their way through a never-before-seen obstacle course – handlers and their dogs got their first look at the course 45 minutes before the event started.
This year’s obstacles included the seesaw, pause table, open and closed tunnel, bar jumps, tire jump and fan-favorite weave poles.
Verb beat out the 16" Class winner, Boss the Shetland Sheepdog, who dominated his class with a time of 31.78 seconds. The other dogs that fell short to Verb's incredible display of speed and agility were Lark the Papillon, who topped the 8" Class leaderboard at 33.51 seconds, Doogie the Border Collie, who won the 24" Class with a 36.88-second performance, and Pre the Poodle, winner of the 12" Class.
On top of showing off some series speed, Verb caught some big air during his run as well.
With the 8th Annual Masters Agility Championship in the books, the competition continues Sunday with the Masters Obedience Championship, followed by judging of the Sporting, Working and Terrier Groups and Best in Show. The action will be broadcast on FS1 from 1:30-4 p.m ET, and on FOX from 7:30-11 p.m. ET.
