Vito is the first pug to win Best in Show at National Dog Show : NPR

Vito, a pug, has received the Finest in Present on the 2024 Nationwide Canine Present, the primary time the breed has received the highest honor on the present because it was first televised in 2002.  Vito beat out greater than 1,900 canines representing greater than 200 breeds and varieties that competed on this yr’s occasion. 

Vito, a small breed canine from Chapel Hill, N.C., craned his neck to search for at his handler, Michael Scott, when the award was introduced, as if making an attempt to know what all the joy was about. Present decide George Milutinovich, who stated Vito had lovely expression and motion, requested Scott if the pug knew he had received. 

“He is very smug,” stated Scott. “I believe he is aware of.”

Vito the award-winning pug stands on the ground of the Nationwide Canine Present.

Steve Donahue/seespotrunphoto.com

cover caption

toggle caption

Steve Donahue/seespotrunphoto.com

Vito beat out six different finalists for finest in present on the annual canine occasion, hosted by the Kennel Membership of Philadelphia and broadcast by NBC on Thanksgiving Day, together with a clumber spaniel named Houston from the sporting group, The Zit, an Ibizan hound from the hound group, a Berger Picard named Rupert from the herding group, an enormous schnauzer named Monty from the working group, and JJ, a Lhasa apso from the non-sporting group. Verde, a rust and black coloured Welsh terrier from the terrier group captured the second place prize, referred to as Reserve Finest in Present.  

In line with the American Kennel Membership, pugs reside to like and to be cherished. As soon as the mischievous companion of Chinese language emperors, the “small however strong” pug is adored by hundreds of thousands of followers around the globe, says the AKC. 

The Nationwide Canine Present was based in 1879 and has been held yearly since 1933. It has been televised since 2002, and has change into a well-liked Thanksgiving custom, with an estimated 20 million animal lovers tuning in to observe, based on Purina, which introduced the present.  This yr, a brand new breed, the Lancashire heeler, made a debut on the present, after it joined the AKC’s checklist of official canine breeds in January.