The three-day Westminster Dog Show is over for another year, with Siba the poodle taking Best in Show in New York on Tuesday night.
The 3-year-old poodle was adorned with black puffs and pompoms for the occasion. "She's beautiful and has that something," her handler, Chrystal Murray-Clas, said.
Bono the Havanese, Wilma the boxer, Conrad the Shetland sheepdog, and Vinny the wire fox terrier also made the final grouping, as did Daniel the golden retriever.
Daniel was the clear crowd favourite, going by the cheers and applause from the audience. Despite being a very beloved breed, a golden has never won at Westminster, while this is the 10th time a poodle has taken the top prize.
Daniel was clearly the favourite over on Twitter, too:
The Westminster winner receives no prize money in a sport where owners can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their pet. Instead, the reward is a silver bowl, lucrative breeding rights and a lifetime of bragging opportunities.
With the show focusing exclusively on the exact details of pure breed dogs, animal rights group Peta took the opportunity to remind people that there are many mixed-breed dogs out there that need homes:
Longtime handler Clint Livingston said he saw Siba two years ago at a show in York, Pennsylvania, and predicted a great future. "I fell in love with her," Livingston said.
- With reporting from AP
