Border collie Verb wins agility title at unique Westminster

Westminster added the agility contest in 2014, reflecting the growing popularity of a dynamic sport open to both purebred and mixed-breed dogs.

Plop barked and yapped through his speedy run, which came 15 months after the now 8-year-old dog had major surgery.

“For real, I did not know if he would run again,” said Topol, of New York City, who was thrilled to see Plop’s confidence as he ran. “This is big-time icing on the cake.”

Some are mixes made especially for sports prowess, such as Crime, a 10-year-old border collie-Staffordshire bull terrier mix.

“He is a ‘go big or go home’ type of dog,” says owner Debbie Lazaro of Howell, New Jersey (an attorney, she names all her dogs after legal terms).

Certain breeds tend to excel in agility, hence the 59 border collies that entered Friday’s contest. But it also drew some lesser-seen breeds like the mudi, a Hungarian herding dog. Kim Seiter, an agility trainer from Oak Ridge, New Jersey, was at Westminster for the first time with her dog Komoly, hoping to showcase the “super-cool, really fun, smart, hard-working” breed.

Another contestant, Stella, is part of a breed better known for snoring than athleticism — she’s a bulldog. But owner Lucy Hayes realized early on that she had a “wild puppy” that loved to play, and now the 3-year-old competes in agility and dock diving.