These very good dogs are set to compete in The Westminster Dog Show

Approximately 3,200 floofs will compete for the title of Best in Show at the 142nd Westminster Dog Show.

Casual dog lovers will catch a few minutes of The National Dog Show every Thanksgiving Day in between commercial breaks for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

But legitimate dog lovers know that the world’s very best dogs get three days all to themselves in February each year as they compete at The Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden.

The Westminster Dog Show aims to identify each dog breed’s perfect specimen. But they’re all perfect, you protest. It’s true; but the show’s judging panel is looking for truly next-level dogs.

Seven groups are represented in the annual dog show:

• Terrier Group
• Sporting Group
• Working Group
• Toy Group
• Non-Sporting Group
• Hound Group
• Herding Group

Believe it or not, the Terrier Group lays claim to producing the most Best in Show winners, with 46, and it’s not even close. (The group with the second-most perfect pooches, Sporting, has had only 18 winners.)

Your perpetual underdog group, Herding, has produced only two Best in Show winners ever, but is actually the best because that’s where Corgis compete.

According to a Westminster Kennel Club press release, dogs are judged by the following criteria:

"Generally relating form to function, i.e., the original function that the dog was bred to perform, most standards describe general appearance, movement, temperament, and specific physical traits such as height and weight, coat, colors, eye color and shape, ear shape and placement, feet, tail, and more."

Here is Tim Tebow with some of the dogs who will compete in 2018:

Tebow picked his projected Westminster Dog Show bracket on Fox & Friends. (They call him a “Barketologist.”) He thinks the Rhodesian Ridgeback is going to win it all, for whatever that’s worth.

As of December 2017, Giant Schnauzer TY (registered name: Ingebar’s Tynan Dances With Wildflowers) was the top-ranked dog in competition by DN Magazine.

He is magnificent.

Despite being the finest dog in recent competition, having defeated a whopping 88,055 other dogs, Ingebar’s Tynan Dances With Wildflowers will compete in the Working group, which has produced just 15 Westminster Show winners.

The nonsensical naming patterns for show dogs tend to follow a standard pattern: breeder/kennel name followed by dog name.

In 2018, you can look forward to watching dogs with delightfully outrageous names strut their stuff. Labyrinth N Illusion Slippery When Wet JH’s owner seems to be a Guns N’ Roses/Bon Jovi fan. Don’t forget Dream Hi’s Don’T Hate The Player Hate The Game (word). Both those dogs are Brittanys, who compete in the Sporting Group.

Of course, you can’t sleep on Hill Country’s Let’s Get Ready To Rumble, who has maybe the most badass name of any pug, ever.

Next: German Shepherd wins Best in Show at 2017 Westminster Dog Show

Fox will air the show, which begins Feb. 11; since its inception in 1948, it has been broadcast nationally without interruption on USA Network, NBC or Fox.

And if you were wondering if the event is BYOD (Bring Your Own Dog)…that’s a resounding no.