Westminster Dog Show: Beagle advances, will it win?
Hound lovers, it鈥檚 true 鈥� a beagle is still in the running to win "Best in Show" at the famed Westminster Dog Show.
Miss P, a 15-inch beagle out of a kennel in British Columbia, Canada, on Monday. She鈥檒l compete with a shih tzu, a standard poodle, and an English sheepdog named Swagger, among other dogs, for top honors on Tuesday night.
Miss P, whose registered name is 鈥淭ashtins Lookin For Trouble,鈥� triumphed over another crowd favorite, Nathan the bloodhound, to grab group honors. Sorry Nathan. Maybe one of the judges had bad childhood memories about .
She鈥檚 the descendent of beagle royalty, as she鈥檚 the grandniece of Uno, the first and so far only beagle to ever win Westminster. Didn鈥檛 know there is such a thing as beagle royalty? Don鈥檛 worry, they don鈥檛 either 鈥� after Uno's 2008 triumph my own two beagles celebrated by snoring a bit louder from their perches on top of the back of the sofa.
Informed of Miss P鈥檚 win on Tuesday morning, these house beagles responded by not pausing a millisecond while devouring breakfast. At the moment they are back on those sofa cushions, sleeping off the excitement.
Uno鈥檚 win stands as a beacon, not just for beaglekind, but for normal dogs in general. Westminster seems dominated by breeds bred for show, not for petting. No Labrador has ever won 鈥� maybe they try too hard. Dalmatian, ditto. Chihuahuas are perhaps too small for the judges to see. Dachshunds are too busy looking for a bigger dog to try and bully. They鈥檝e never won either.
Last year鈥檚 winner was a wire-haired fox terrier, which is a normal sort of dog 鈥� if you live in a 1930s detective movie. Before that it was an affenpinscher, which you won鈥檛 spot at the neighborhood play park.
Actually, the historical breed records for wins are pretty interesting. The real story seems to be that a relatively small number of breeds dominate Westminster鈥檚 Best in Show award. Of 192 breeds entered this year, . So Labradors, et al., are not alone.
Yet the wire-haired fox terrier has . (Lots of those were a long time ago, to be fair.) The Scottish terrier has won eight times. The English springer spaniel has won six.
On the other end of the spectrum, 25 breeds have only won once. A pug won in 1981, for instance. (His full name was 鈥�,鈥� one of our all-time favorites.)
A whippet has one win. So does a clumber spaniel. And a beagle.
Maybe Miss P will make it two.
