On Tuesday night, a beagle named Uno took Best in Show during the second day of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. More than one hundred and sixty breeds and varieties were represented at the 132nd annual affair in New York City. More than 2600 dogs entered the show.
The crowd at Madison Square Garden got to their feet and roared for the little beagle. Uno joined in the cheering — he has an unusual habit of baying at the judges as if to say: “Pick me! Here I am!”
Handler Aaron Wilkerson says that Uno is definitely a people’s dog, and a “merry little hound”. Handler and owners knew Uno would someday be number one — they just didn’t know it would happen so soon. The nation’s top dog is just three years old. He came into Westminster with an impressive thirty-two Best in Show ribbons on his record.
Make that thirty-three, now.
What makes this win so special? Despite being on the list of America’s favorite breeds for nearly a century, a beagle has never won Best in Show at Westminster. That’s more than a hundred years of kennel club history without a beagle at the top. No beagle had won the hound group since 1939. That’s a long time without a crown for such a popular breed.
The hounds in general are something of an underdog when it comes to Westminster. The last time a hound picked up the big prize was 1983.
Judge J. Donald Jones — who presided over the Best in Show ring on Tuesday night — had no idea that a beagle had never held the top spot. Jones chose Uno over a standard poodle, a toy poodle with more than a hundred Best in Show titles, an Akita, an Australian shepherd, and a Sealyham terrier (the breed that won top honors at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship).