J.R., the bichon frisé, was 2001’s big winner, while Uno the beagle was last year’s lucky champion. Together with other winning colleagues, the pampered doggies were very active on Saturday afternoon instead of looking down on younger canine reps.

 

Just before J.R. stepped into the ballroom of the Affinia Hotel, he managed to fulfill his biggest dream ever - to chew on his handler’s pair of shoes.

 

Embellished with the collar he received at the White House, Uno wailed constantly, while James, the English springer spaniel and 2007’s winner, shoved graciously while sporadically whining when he lost track of his co-owner Teresa Patton.

 

Rufus, the 2006 winning bull terrier, displayed a placid stance, although he had left his famous Cat in the Hat costume at home. Moreover, Spice, a beautiful black poodle who won the 2002 edition of the show, sat calmly in anticipation of the much-awaited results.

 

The assembly of best-in-show champions at a fund-raiser for Angel on a Leash, a nonprofit therapy-dog program, was the most significant ever, the New York Times cited David Frei, Westminster’s director of communications and the analyst on the show’s two-night broadcast, as saying.

 

Each winner surfaces yearly from a field of approximately 2,500. This year, the dogue de Bordeaux joined the show and is due to participate in the working group. Only 44 breeds have been first past the post. The wire fox terrier alone has won the competition 13 times.