German Shorthaired Pointer CJ Wins Best In Show
NEW YORK — A German shorthaired pointer named CJ won “Best in Show” at the 140th Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 16, besting more than 2,700 contestants over the two-day competition.
Westminster, which is the second longest continuously running sporting event in the United States behind the Kentucky Derby, drew entries from nearly 200 breeds and varieties and more than a dozen countries this year.
“I couldn’t believe it,” CJ’s owner Valerie Nunes-Atkinson, from Temecula, California, said about the win. CJ stood stoically by her side and was occasionally rewarded his favorite chicken treats.
“This is what we go to bed dreaming about,” she said.
Nunes-Atkinson breeds German shorthaired pointers, medium-to-large size hunting dogs native to Germany, but she said she always knew three-year-old CJ was special.
“He’s an old soul,” she said. Her champion dog will now head back home and celebrate the win with his best friend, a whippet named Ramona.
CJ, who pranced across an expansive show floor at Madison Square Garden, will also receive a trophy and later embark on a media tour as the show’s champion. A Borzoi, named Lucy, was runner-up.
Source: NBC News