If you missed it last night, a Beagle named Uno won Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club. Beatrice, my Beagle pack member (picture to the right on the blog is beside herself! She thinks Uno is the cutest thing since Snoopy in Peanuts!
Congratulations to Uno and all the other gorgeous dogs who competed at Westminster! You’re all champions to me!
And big barks to Pedigree Dog Products for their great ads about adopting dogs!
Here’s some more info on Uno and his win from Bloomberg.com.
Beagle Breakthrough: Westminster Favorite Is Top Dog (Update2)
By Philip Boroff
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) — A happy beagle named “Uno” made history last night, becoming the first of his breed to win the 132-year-old Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York.
The 15-inch-tall (38-centimeter) champion beat six highly ranked, highly coifed pooches for the title: a standard and toy poodle, a Sealyham terrier, an akita, a weimaraner and an Australian shepherd.
“Everything he does is correct,” said J. Donald Jones, the 75-year-old judge who bestowed the top prize for purebreds on the beagle. “This is a great dog.”
Uno was the crowd favorite as he sauntered back and forth on the floor of Madison Square Garden, his tiny tail wagging.
“He’s what a beagle is supposed to be,” his 29-year-old handler, Aaron Wilkerson, told reporters as Uno bayed and barked. “A merry little hound.” There was no word on whether he might be hoping for a celebratory e-mail from Snoopy.
To celebrate his triumph and satisfy the media crush, Uno appeared on NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” followed by lunch at Sardi’s restaurant and a scheduled taping with David Letterman.
Beyond that, “I have no idea what the future holds,” Kathy Weichert, one of Uno’s four owners, said in a telephone interview today.
Time Off
Uno, who has won 33 best in shows, can become the most successful beagle in dog-show history by claiming 8 more titles. For now, he’ll take time off after Westminster, skipping planned competitions in South Carolina and Florida.
“If you win Westminster, you don’t want to go out and get beat,” said Weichert, who works as an accounting associate for the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District. “You want to go out on top.”
Weichert credits Wilkerson, who is based in Columbia, South Carolina, and has cared for Uno since he was six months old, for grooming him into a champion. What’s with the baying?
“He’s a talker ever since he was a baby,” she said. “That is his personality. It makes him what he is.”
