The 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
The 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show had a surprise winner this year when a Pekingnese took the coveted Best in Show prize in New York.
An irresistible ball of fur named Malachy became the fourth Pekingese since 1960 to win best of show at New York’s Westminster Kennel Club dog pageant.
westminster dog show
“He’s a charismatic little guy,” Lisa Croft-Elliott, a veteran dog-show photographer, said last night at a post- competition party at Madison Square Garden. “He’s like your favorite pair of bedroom slippers.”
Malachy bested 6 others in the finals, including a Dalmatian and a Wirehaired Dachshund, both of which would’ve been the first of their breeds to win the 135-year-old event. Malachy was chosen by judge Cindy Vogels, a 60-year-old breeder who owns two Pekingese herself at her home in Greenwood Village, Colorado. He’s the first winning Pekingese since 1990.
“He’s a super dog who had a stupendous night,” Vogels told reporters as Malachy lay quietly on a table before them.
His handler and part-owner, David Fitzpatrick, was asked whether the 11-pound (5 kilograms) champ has feline traits, given that he loosely resembles a Persian cat.
“He’s not like a cat at all,” he said. “He’s like a Pekingese.”
Pekes, as dog fanciers call them, are of Chinese origin, dating back to the eighth century. The name’s derived from Peking, the city now known as Beijing. They aren’t supposed to be delicate or dainty, according to the American Kennel Club, which publishes standards by which purebreds are measured.
