There’s a new greatest in present on the town!
A pug named Vito, who’s 2-and-a-half, was topped the 2024 Nationwide Canine Present winner on Thursday, November 28.
Vito beat competitors from a Welsh terrier named Verde to assert the prize throughout Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day protection of the competition on NBC. The occasion was held on the Higher Philadelphia Expo Middle in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
Vito was first named greatest within the toy breed earlier than claiming the general prize.
“I’m so pleased with him,” his co-owner Carolyn Koch stated, per NBC.
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Vito’s handler, Michael Scott, stated he had a sense that Vito would do properly within the competitors.
“I used to be optimistic,” he stated in a press release. “I all the time hope to get a extremely good look [from the judge]. … Vito has a ravishing head and expression. Nice define.”
“Compact, options, motion — every little thing a pug ought to be,” choose George Milutinovich commented in a press launch.
“By no means seen him earlier than. Wow. Simply wow. Plenty of canine in a small bundle. To have a look at a pug is to place a smile in your face,” Milutinovich added.
Regardless of being simply 2-and-a-half, Vito has competed in 75 canine exhibits, per The Unbiased. His victory Thursday is his twenty fifth best-in-show win.
In addition to claiming the title, Vito gained his co-owners Koch, Pleasure Barbieri and Rebecca Movall a $20,000 money prize.
Previous winners of the Nationwide Canine Present embody Stache, a Sealyham terrier, in 2023, Winston, a French bulldog, in 2022, and two-time winner Claire, a Scottish deerhound who gained the prize in 2020 and 2021.
