(ats) The contest is usually held in February, in Madison Square Garden. But for this 145th edition – it is the oldest annual meeting on the American calendar, after the Kentucky Derby – the calendar had to be moved, and the usual crowds of spectators banned.
Three-year-old Wasabi was crowned among seven finalists including Bourbon, a whippet, Mathew, a French Bulldog, Connor, an English Shepherd, Striker, a Samoyed, or Boy, a West Highland white terrier.
For its owner and breeder, David Fitzpatrick – who had already won the prestigious award in 2012 with another Pekingese, Malachy – Wasabi combines “charisma, sense of movement and spectacle”.
“He’s in top form and he’s just amazing,” smiled the breeder after his win on Good Morning America. He added that Wasabi would be retiring soon, although “he likes competitions and has a great character.”
The competition is reserved for pedigree dogs: this year it brought together more than 2,000 competitors from more than 200 different breeds, of all sizes, hair and shapes.
They are judged not only on their behavior, their posture, but also the adequacy of their reactions to certain situations, according to whether they express the vigilance or the joy which is necessary in certain circumstances.
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