Perfectly Poised Pooches Strut Their Stuff At Westminster Dog Show

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NEW YORK CITY (CBSMiami) -- The Westminster Dog Show is kicking off in New York City Monday. Thousands of dogs from around the country are competing for the top award.

This beauty pageant for dogs has an Olympic-like event to compete in too. It is the acrobatics agility event.

Athletics aside, the annual Westminster Dog Show is a paw-filled parade of the country's top dogs.

"Co-owners spent about 25-thousand dollars campaigning him his past year, and that's not very much. Some people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars," explained Dea Freiheight, co-owner of Rembrandt, a 5-year-old English sheep dog who is vying for a blue ribbon. His pre-show pampering will take six hours but he doesn't seem to mind.

"I always tell people, if I could lay on a table and have someone groom me for hours and hours, I'd be loving that too," said Freiheight.

28-hundred dogs are competing this year, separated into about 200 bred categories.

One of those dogs is a 2-year-old Standard Poodle named George whose handler describes the canine's haircut.

"This is a continental cut. It takes about 2 ½ to 3 hours to get him ready before a show," explained Chelsay Paul.

Paul says George is making his show ring debut.

The "Best in Show" winner will be announced Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. There is no prize money, but the winner will take home a trophy and plenty of pride.)