A food stupor on Thursday caused me to miss the crowning of a new king. Behold the champion: 2.5-year-old, 18-pound North Carolinean pug Vito claimed best in show at the National Dog Show, becoming the first pug to nab the big win. So how is the champ dealing with all the hoopla? Well, it’s his 25th BIS title, and judging by his face, I’m guessing he feels a little sheepish, woeful, and guilty. Just gaze into what CNN calls his “sympathetic eyes.”
Vito the pug has been crowned best in show at the 92nd annual National Dog Show — the first time a pug has won the title in at least two decades.
A 2.5-year-old pug with sympathetic eyes and a muscly stature, Vito bested about 2,000 other canines to take the title at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center for this year’s show which aired on NBC Thursday.
Vito has racked up 25 best-in-shows over his short career, his co-owner Carolyn Koch, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina told NBC, adding that she was “so proud” of the pug.
Vito beat a Welsh terrier, a giant schnauzer, a Clumber spaniel, a Lhasa apso, a Berger Picard and an Ibizan hound to earn the top spot. Second place went to the Welsh terrier, named Verde.
Any American Kennel Club-registered dog can enter the show. Judges assess the competitors based on their appearance, temperament and structure, with a focus on how well they conform to the expectations of their breed.
The owners of the winning animal take home a $2,000 prize.
Last year’s winner was a cream-colored Sealyham terrier called Stache.
Ah, Stache, has it really been a whole year since his victory? It feels both like yesterday and eons ago. Whereas Stache’s signature bangs artfully concealed much of his eyes, those of this year’s winner Vito are an open book. The agony, the pathos in this pup’s peepers! To me they say, “I’m so sorry. It should’ve been someone else. I didn’t want this either. All these titles — I mean they’re nice and all, I mean no disrespect, but all I’d really like is a good scritch behind the ears, a reliable source of food, and if we could find some way to improve my breathing after centuries of selective breeding have smushed my nose flat against my face, well, that would be lovely.”
Regardless of my projecting onto Vito’s vulnerable visage, congratulations to him on this historic win. You have done pugs the world over proud, and are a very good boy.
Make way for a small but mighty breed… the Pug! Watch them compete in the Toy Group at The National Dog Show presented by Purina on NBC & Peacock. pic.twitter.com/cxz7f2Tb8C
— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) November 28, 2024