Penny, a Doberman pinscher, won best in show Tuesday night at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, taking the top prize from a final lineup that also featured a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Cota and other breed standouts. The win drew cheers not only for the dog but also for the handler, Andy Linton, a longtime figure in the show-ring who previously captured best in show in 1989 with a Doberman named Indy.
Linton told the crowd, “Penny ‘is as great a Doberman as I have ever seen,’” after guiding the 4-year-old dog through an “impeccably crisp performance,” despite health problems. He said he had goals for the show, and that the milestone 150th annual Westminster title was “extra-special” as he approached the later stages of his career. In a conversation with reporters, Linton added, “I had some goals, and this was one of them,” and later described the win as “extra-special” for him.
The runner-up was Cota, a Chesapeake Bay retriever handled by Devon Kipp Levy, who drew loud cheers from spectators alongside Doberman fans. The story of the final felt especially notable to the show community because, while Dobermans have won five times including Tuesday, no retriever had ever won best in show at Westminster. Cota also appeared to enjoy the moment, particularly when Levy let him play with the ribbon.
Beyond Penny and Cota, the judge—two-time Westminster-winning handler David Fitzpatrick—reviewed other finalists including Zaida, an Afghan hound; JJ, a Lhasa apso; Cookie, a Maltese; Graham, an old English sheepdog; and Wager, a smooth fox terrier. Fitzpatrick called the group one “that will go down in history,” describing the collection of dogs that advanced to the final round.
The show’s judging is based on how closely each dog matches the breed’s ideal, with the winner receiving a trophy, ribbons and what handlers described as the most coveted acknowledgment in the sport. Penny, who was a crowd favorite at the 2025 Westminster show, had built a reputation in the rings and arrived Tuesday with support from a wide network of handlers and dog people cheering her in early-round action.
In remarks after the win, Linton described Penny’s temperament as steady and adaptable. He said she is generally “very chill,” but can get “pretty pumped up for a bad guy. Or a squirrel.” Co-owner Greg Chan of Toronto said Penny is “very demanding and very smart,” and added that she is “a pleaser — she’ll do anything for food,” noting that her favorite snack was “Everything.”
Penny emerged after competing against 2,500 dogs representing more than 200 breeds at Westminster, with the final result coming after two nights of semifinals. Spectators turned up the volume for moments such as a Xoloitzcuintli named Calaco, a hairless dog that moved around the ring as if it had nothing to prove, and a vizsla named Beamer that hopped into a box placed for the handler’s tools.
The semifinal lineup also included comedic crowd scenes, including Storm the Newfoundland standing tall after jumping up on her handler, and chants of “Lumpy! Lumpy!” for Lumpy the Pekingese. Millie, a Danish-Swedish farmdog, also made a history-making run in semifinals, with the breed becoming eligible for the Westminster show this year and Millie besting about 10 other farmdogs to reach the evening round.
Westminster wins often go to handlers and owners with long experience in the sport, but the event also featured first-timers among those reaching the breed championship spotlight. Joseph Carrero, for example, showed his Neapolitan mastiff, Dezi, a dog he said he had yearned for since his teenage years; Carrero, a heavy equipment operator from Indian Springs, Nevada, started showing the dog because the breeder wanted him to, and later became a breeder and handler himself. Carrero said, “It’s really hard for us to do this, but we enjoy it, and he enjoys it.”
The show also brought out personal stories connected to specific breeds. Natalee Ridenhour said Boerboels—formidable guard dogs originally from South Africa—helped shape her life with her late husband and her eventual move from metropolitan life to a farm in Royse City, Texas. On Tuesday, Ridenhour and a Boerboel named Invictus competed at Westminster, even though the dog did not advance past the first round; as a passer-by delightedly petted Invictus, Ridenhour said, “Honestly, the big win is: You’re about the 50th person who’s gotten down in his face and loved on him.”