Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Coming up on the show, we have reports from Anna Mateo and Andrew Smith.

Brian Lynn has the Science and Technology Report.

And we close with the lesson of the day.

But now here's Anna. At America's 149th, Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show,

Monty, the giant Schnauzer, won the top prize.

The lively schnauzer beat six other finalists in New York City to become the first of his breed

to win Westminster's best in show. The prize is the most important and respected in the U.S. dog show world.

While Monty came close to winning Westminster the past two years, he fell short of the big prize.

In December 2024, the dog won another big prize, the huge American Kennel Club championship.

But for dog show lovers, Westminster is considered the Super Bowl of all shows.

This year, the comparison is especially fitting.

That is because the most respected U.S. dog competition opened on the same weekend as the Super Bowl,

the most important game in American professional football.

This rare happening came after the dates of both competitions changed in recent years.

At Westminster, dogs first compete against other members of their breed.

Then the winner of each breed goes up against other dogs within different competition groups.

Among the groups are sporting, working, toy, and herding.

Group winners then compete in the final round.

...