What's On: The 151st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, New York

A Smooth Fox Terrier called Warren Remedy won the first Best in Show at Westminster in 1907, then won it again the next two years. In February 2026 the title went to a Doberman Pinscher called Penny, with a Chesapeake Bay Retriever called Cota as Reserve. Next winter the Westminster Kennel Club holds its 151st show in New York, and it is one of the few dog events in the world worth crossing an ocean for. The club's own schedule for Westminster Week runs from Saturday 30 January to Tuesday 2 February 2027, split between two buildings and two very different kinds of day. Here is what is on, when, and how to plan it if your own dog is coming to New York with you.

Two Venues, Two Tickets

Daytime events take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 429 11th Avenue, and the evening finals at Madison Square Garden, 4 Pennsylvania Plaza. The single most useful fact on the club's tickets page is that the two are sold separately: a ticket for the Javits Center does not get you into the Garden, and a ticket for the Garden does not get you into the Javits Center. If you want to see a breed judged in the morning and then watch it compete for its group at night, you need both. The Garden sells two-day passes for the Monday and Tuesday evenings, and groups of nine or more can book through its group sales team. Canine Chronicle, reporting the club's announcement in April, put the entry at more than 2,500 champion dogs over the three days of competition.

Saturday 30 January: The Canine Celebration

The week opens at the Javits Center with what the club calls the Canine Celebration, and it is the day for anyone who loves watching dogs move. Doors open at 7am and the Masters Agility Championship preliminaries begin at 7.30am. The club says 350 dogs are entered, competing in five height classes, and that any dog can take part, including mixed breeds registered with the American Kennel Club as All-American dogs. That makes Saturday the one day of the week when a rescue can stand on the same floor as the champions. Alongside it run the flyball tournament, a relay race in which teams of four dogs go head to head over the course, a demonstration ring, a human agility course and the Sensation Stage. The daytime session ends at 4.30pm. The Masters Agility finals follow that evening from 7pm, and the tickets page warns that they need their own ticket and that availability is limited, so book them early if they are the reason you are going.

Monday 1 February: Hounds, Toys, Non-Sporting and Herding

Monday is the first day of the dog show proper. At the Javits Center, breed judging for the Hound, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding groups runs from 8.30am to 5pm, with doors at 7.30am. Each breed picks its best dog here, ring by ring, closer and quieter than anything at the Garden. From 11am to 4pm the benching area is open, which the club describes as the place to "meet, pet, and learn about the dogs up close". Expect rows of show dogs being brushed and fussed over between rings, with breeders and handlers on hand to answer questions. The Junior Showmanship preliminaries run at 9.30am and 11.45am. The club describes the competition as judging the handling skills of children aged nine to eighteen, not the dog, and says about a hundred qualified juniors come to New York each year, with eight going through to the final.

In the evening the show moves across Midtown to Madison Square Garden. Doors open at 6.30pm and group judging for the Hound, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding groups begins at 7.30pm, with the session running to 11pm. The morning's breed winners now compete within their groups, and four group winners are named by the end of the night.

Tuesday 2 February: Sporting, Working, Terrier and Best in Show

Tuesday follows the same pattern. Breed judging for the Sporting, Working and Terrier groups runs at the Javits Center from 9am to 5pm, with the benching area open again from 11am to 4pm and the Junior Showmanship preliminaries at the same times as Monday. At the Garden, doors open at 6pm, the Junior Showmanship finals start at 7pm and the last three groups are judged from 7.30pm. Then the seven group winners come back into the ring together for Best in Show. The club's schedule notes that the judge names the Reserve Best in Show first, then the winner. The tickets page also makes clear that benching is not open to the public at the Garden on either evening, so if meeting the dogs matters to you, go to the Javits Center by day.

A Show Older Than the Garden

The club's history page dates its first show to 1877, when the First Annual New York Bench Show of Dogs drew 1,201 dogs to Gilmore's Garden, the forerunner of Madison Square Garden. The name comes from a long gone Manhattan hotel, the Westminster, whose bar was where the club's founders met. The show has since outlasted three earlier Gardens, and the club calls it the second longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, behind only the Kentucky Derby, and by just two years. Its about page adds that it has been televised live nationally since 1948.

How to Watch

The club announced on 13 May 2026 that Netflix becomes the show's streaming home. The two evenings at Madison Square Garden, the group judging on 1 February and the group judging and Best in Show on 2 February, stream live on Netflix, and the daytime breed judging at the Javits Center streams live on Tudum.com and on the club's own site. The Masters Agility Championship is taped and streamed later rather than shown live. The club says the Netflix streaming schedule will be posted on its site nearer the time, and its viewing schedule page currently points to its YouTube channel for coverage and highlights, so check it again in January for the exact times.

Going With Your Own Dog

The show is for the dogs entered in it, and the club's spectator questions and answers say nothing about bringing a pet along, so plan on your dog spending show hours at the hotel. That makes the hotel's rule on leaving a dog alone in the room the thing to check first. The club publishes its own list of hotels for the week with each one's pet fee, from no charge to a $150 refundable deposit plus a nightly fee, though every block on the list was marked sold out when we looked. One name on it is a hotel we have assessed. Kimpton Hotel Eventi, at 851 Sixth Avenue, says on its own pet page that it charges no fee and no deposit, has no size, weight or breed limit and no limit on the number of pets, delivers water bowls to the room and has beds on request. Its Roch Dog review records a B, with dogs welcome in the lounge and restaurant and allowed to stay alone in the room. The hotel points owners to Jemmy's Dog Run in Madison Square Park, about 0.4 miles away, which has separate runs for large and small dogs and is open all year, with short daily closures for cleaning.

For a smaller dog and a quieter part of Midtown, The Whitby Hotel on West 56th Street holds an A+ on our review. Dogs stay free, go to the bar, restaurant, lounge and terrace, and may be left in the room, and the hotel can arrange dog walking and dog sitting. Its weight limit is 40 lb, so owners of bigger dogs should ask when they book.

The Dates to Hold

Saturday 30 January is agility and flyball at the Javits Center, with the Masters Agility finals that night. Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 February are breed judging and benching by day at the Javits Center, then group judging at Madison Square Garden by night, ending in Best in Show on the Tuesday. Tickets are on sale now through the club, venue by venue.