Swagger the Old English sheepdog and Matisse the Portuguese water dog were the crowd favorites at this year’s Westminster Dog Show, but an underdog won the judges hearts and took home Best in Show at Tuesday evening’s big event. Miss P, a 15-inch beagle whose official name is “Tashtins Lookin For Trouble,” became the second of her breed to earn two Westminster wins.
Miss P is the grandniece of 2008 Westminster champion Uno, but that pedigree wasn’t enough to make people consider her a frontrunner in this year’s Westminster Dog Show. All eyes were on Swagger, an adorable sheepdog, and Matisse, who is actually a relation of President Obama’s pet Sunny.
“The 3-year-old presidential pooch, a Portuguese water dog, and Matisse, who is the same age and breed and the odds-on favorite to take home Best in Show Tuesday, come from the same bloodline,” The New York Daily News revealed before the event. “The pair of puppies share a grandfather — Carlo the Portuguese water dog — but have different grandmothers and different parents, making them first-cousins.”
However, Miss P won over the judges by proving that she is a “beagle in the ring and the beagle in the field,” Best in Show judge David Merriam told the New York Times after the show, seemingly explaining that Miss P’s victory was because she was more of a complete package than the group finalists she beat out.
“She is a princess,” handler Will Alexander told the Associated Press. “She never let me down. She didn’t make any mistakes.”
This Best in Show victory means that the beagle has now joined the bulldog, the Afghan and the black cocker spaniel in the list of breeds that have won Westminster twice. Several breeds don’t even have a single Westminster win to their record, since only 47 have ever won Best in Show out of 192 registered breeds. The fox terrier is still the record-holder in the competition, as the breed has won 14 times.
Miss P will be celebrating her big victory at a publicity event in Donald Trump’s office this Wednesday, but her owners say that soon she will get to retire to a life of having and raising puppies in Canada.
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