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2022 Westminster Dog Show: Bee is Masters Agility Champion
The 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is officially underway, and this year's competition is already shaping up to be a fantastic show.
Westminster, also known as "America's Dog Show," kicked things off at Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York on Saturday with the preliminary competition, followed by the highly anticipated Masters Agility Championship Finals, which aired Sunday on FOX.
Dogs participated in two rounds of agility preliminaries on Friday before the field was narrowed down to 50 finalists who competed Saturday night for the title of Masters Agility Champion. In the end, it was Bee the Shetland Sheepdog who took home the title of 2022 WKC Masters Agility Champion!
Purebred and All-American (mixed breed) dogs were eligible to compete in the event, and were judged on time and completion (minus faults) of the course. Dogs climbed, balanced, jumped, weaved, and sprinted their way over and through a series of obstacles on a course that they have never seen before; Handlers and their dogs didn't get their first look at the course until 45 minutes before the event started.
While the equipment is the same each year, the course layout is different for every dog show, so success depends on the communication between the dog and their handler to guide them through the course.
This year’s 20 obstacles included the seesaw, tunnels, bar jumps, tire jump and fan-favorite weave poles.
Dogs ranging from a Chihuahua to a German Shepherd competed in the final timed obstacle course, and Border Collies were the top-represented breed with five finalists. Last year, Verb the Border Collie won it all with a lightning-fast time of 31.30 seconds without a single fault.
Every year, there are five classes that are divided by jump heights in order to make the competition equal between the different sizes of dogs. They were:
8" Class – dogs up to 11" at the shoulder
12" Class – dogs over 11" and up to 14" at the shoulder
16" Class – dogs over 14" and up to 18" at the shoulder
20" Class – dogs over 18" and up to 22" at the shoulder
24" Class – dogs over 22" at the shoulder
First up was the 16" Class, where Bee dominated the competition with a winning time of 29.81 seconds.
Bee the Shetland Sheepdog dominates the 16" Class
Next up were the little dogs in the 8" Class, and Lark the Papillon — who won this class last year — topped the leaderboard at 32.63 seconds.
Lark the Papillon wins back-to-back 8" Class titles
The big dogs were up next, and Kaboom the Border Collie took the top spot in the 24" Class with a 31.93-second performance.
Kaboom the Border Collie wins the 24" Class for the third time
In the 12" Class, Bilbo the Papillon won with an impressive time of 34.39 seconds, blowing away the competition with ease, as the next-best time was nearly 12 seconds behind.
Bilbo the Papillon wins 12" Class title
Last but not least, it was Truant the Border Collie, who won the 20" Class with a time of 31 seconds, just narrowly losing the title to Bee by 1.19 seconds.
Truant the Border Collie wins the 20" Class
Also in the 20" Class was Brio, who was crowned this year's overall All-American (mixed breed) winner.
With the agility competition in the books, the action will pick up again on Monday with the Masters Obedience Championship and judging of the Hounding and Herding breeds (1-4 p.m. ET, FS2).
Here are more top moments from Sunday.
Ahead of the action, FOX Sports' Charlotte Wilder gave an exclusive first-hand sneak peek of the course.
Charlotte Wilder runs 2022 Masters Agility Championship course
Bee is just the second non-Border Collie to win the Masters Agility Championship title, with the only other dog being Holster the Australian Shepherd back in 2016, who won with a time of 35.1 seconds.
Bee is also the fourth dog to post a time under the 30-second mark en route to winning the title, joining Border Collies Kelso (28.44 seconds in 2014), Fame (29.53 seconds in 2018) and P!nk (29.35 seconds in 2020).
Although Elvira the Bracco Italiani didn't come close to winning the 24" Class, her 55.89-second performance has the crowd rolling at this year's competition.
Elvira casually runs course to become new fan favorite at WKC
