On a wet weekend last December, a pack of 25,000 humans and 4,000 dogs made its way to Long Beach, Calif., for the annual AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. There were plush blue carpets, fully stocked bars, and 100 vendors pushing crystal-fringed dog sculptures and custom canine earrings. While most of the spectators didn’t venture upstairs, away from the classic breed competition, that’s where history was being made.

Cesaru2019s Way: The N... Cesar Millan, Melissa ... Best Price: $0.25 Buy New $8.93 (as of 10:45 UTC - Details)

On the second floor, in rings surrounded by white plastic fences and folding chairs, the country’s top-rated canine obedience teams competed in the American Kennel Club’s 14th Annual National Obedience Invitational. Over an exhausting two days, the dog-handler pairs performed a strictly defined set of exercises: heeling patterns, figure eights, the retrieval of specific dumbbells from a pile, high and broad jumps. In one of the more stunning displays, the dogs would hurtle toward the handler and – on a hand signal delivered from a world away – come to an immediate stop and drop to the ground.

And then they did it all again. And again.

"At this level, you make a significant mistake and basically you’re out," said the winner, Petra Ford of New Jersey, who didn’t. For the second year in a row, Ford took the rosette with her black Labrador retriever, NOC2 OTCH Count Tyler Show Me the Money UDX4 OM1, called Tyler. Indeed, those who had the privilege of standing around the hushed finals arena enjoyed one of the most consistent performances the sport has ever seen.

In the final round, neither of them showed any signs of fatigue. If anything, they were in danger of committing errors of exuberance. Ford accidentally overthrew the dumbbell in the retrieval exercise, and Tyler denied his predictable canine urges in not bounding after it. Joyously wagging his tail during the heeling patterns, he was close to overtaking his handler – a serious mistake. As Ford herself admits, "[Competitions] are hard because they require the dog to overcome every instinct they have."