If you ask me, this year’s recipient of the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show’s Best in Show title is the cutest winner since Uno, who in 2008 was the first Beagle to ever take the title.
Maybe that’s because 4-year-old Tashtins Lookin for Trouble — aka Peyton — aka Miss P — just happens to be Uno’s grandniece.
Miss P was much more subdued than her vocal great uncle, who had barked and howled at judges seven years ago. Yet Miss P’s handler, Will Alexander, seemed to be exhausted at a news conference after the show, the New York Times reports.
“She’s hungry and I’m overwhelmed,” Alexander told reporters. “She just never let me down. She didn’t make any mistakes,”
Best in Show judge David Merriam appeared to be having a good time with his duties. According to the New York Times, Merriam said he chose Miss P because she “had wonderful type” and a “wonderful head,” and, as she trotted around the show ring at Madison Square Garden, he could imagine “the Beagle in the ring and the Beagle in the field.”
The win was considered a huge upset since Matisse, a Portuguese Water Dog who’s a cousin of the Obama family’s Sunny, was expected by many to take the title. Swagger, an Old English Sheepdog, got the biggest cheers and seemed to be the crowd favorite.
The competitor who got the most media attention was Toy Group winner Rocket, who is co-owned by former headline-maker Patricia Hearst-Shaw.
Miss P was born in Canada and lives in both Milton and Enderby, British Columbia. She has won 19 previous best in dog show titles in the U.S., but this will be her final one. She’s retiring to motherhood.
Uno, who lives in Austin, Texas, and is now almost 10, has never met his grandniece. His dog mom, Caroline Dowell, told the Associated Press that Uno has his own television set, “so I assume he was watching.” Uno is still in great shape, she added. “You can put him in the ring and he’d win tonight.”
To celebrate her victory, Miss P is spending Wednesday appearing on TV shows, having lunch at Manhattan’s famous Sardi’s restaurant and making a cameo appearance tonight in the Broadway musical “Kinky Boots.”
If Miss P has you thinking about getting a Beagle, please consider adopting one — there are plenty of what the American Kennel Club describes as “curious, friendly and merry” dogs available in shelters and through rescue organizations. The Beagle Dog Rescue Shelter Directory lists rescues across the country.
Photos via Facebook