Pekingese Wins Westminster

Best in Show winner at Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is just 11 pounds
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 15, 2012 6:24 AM CST
Pekingese Wins Westminster
Malachy, a Pekingese, competes for best in show at the 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012. Malachy went on to win the award.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

America's top dog is just 11 pounds: Malachy, a 4-year-old Pekingese, was named Best in Show last night at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Malachy, who has won 115 best in shows and was Westminster's No. 2 dog last year, will retire after this victory. "He's a lot of dog in a small package," says handler David Fitzpatrick. The Pekingese is the fourth of his breed to win Westminster, USA Today reports.

Malachy competed against more than 2,000 dogs, including an Irish setter named Emily who won the sporting group after giving birth to 15 puppies in May, and a Doberman named Fifi who has her own Facebook page—the Fifinator—who won the working group. The hound group went to a wire-haired dachshund named Cinders, the terrier group to a Kerry Blue named Chelsey, and two other dogs—a Dalmation and a German shepherd—also reached the Best in Show competition. As for Malachy, the New York Times reports, he will now live a life of relaxation with his handler. "He will chase squirrels," says Fitzpatrick. "He will be pampered." (More Pekingese stories.)

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