New York, NY—-The 150th Westminster Dog Show opened with an electric atmosphere, and from the moment I arrived, one name seemed to be on everyone’s lips: a Border Collie called Prove It.
This was my first time attending Westminster, and nothing could have prepared me for the energy inside the venue. The excitement surrounding the dogs was unlike anything I’d experienced before, and the welcoming nature of both the spectators and staff made navigating an event of this scale surprisingly easy for a first-timer. The roar of the crowd and constant buzz eventually led me to the Masters Agility Championship, where I had the chance to sit in on the afternoon preliminaries alongside the Director of Agility, Douglas Hurley.
As the competition unfolded, Hurley walked me through the structure of the event and explained the seven American Kennel Club groups represented at Westminster. He has overseen the agility competition for nearly two years but has been part of the Westminster Dog Show for more than 26 years. While he spoke, I watched what may have been the fastest animal I have ever seen move in person — effortlessly weaving through obstacles with a level of speed and precision that looked completely natural.
Later that evening, the finals of the Masters Agility Championship took center stage. Much like any major sporting event, you know when you’re watching greatness — the canine equivalent of seeing Tiger Woods on Sunday or Steph Curry lining up a three. Prove It delivered exactly that kind of moment.
In the 20-inch division of the 13th Masters Agility Championship, Prove It turned the obstacle course — designed to test intelligence, intensity and nimbleness — into a performance best described as poetry in motion. The Border Collie attacked the course with flawless timing, knowing precisely when to launch off a contact zone without drawing a penalty, when to cut sharply, and how to anticipate every command from the handler. Watching it unfold in real time was breathtaking, and trying to capture it in words hardly does it justice.
The crowd responded accordingly, erupting with every clean run and explosive turn, much like a packed arena reacting to a clutch shot. While agility competition is divided into five height classifications ranging from eight inches to 24 inches, the spotlight belonged squarely to Prove It.
By the end of the night, Prove It had done more than dominate the competition — the Border Collie had made a believer out of a first-time attendee. Performances like that have the potential to change how people view dog shows, drawing in new fans and shining a brighter light on the athleticism, intelligence and spectacle of events like Westminster.
