Vito the pug is the first of his breed to win National Dog Show’s top prize

Vito, a pug, has won the Best in Show at the 2024 National Dog Show, the first time the breed has won the top honor at the show since it began in 2002.  Vito beat out more than 1,900 dogs representing more than 200 breeds and varieties that competed in this year’s event. 

Vito, a small breed dog from Chapel Hill, N.C., craned his neck to look up at his handler, Michael Scott, when the award was announced, as if trying to understand what all the excitement was about. Show judge George Milutinovich, who said Vito had beautiful expression and movement, asked Scott if the pug knew he had won. 

“He’s very smug,” said Scott. “I think he knows.”

Vito beat out six other finalists for best in show at the annual canine event, hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia and broadcast by NBC on Thanksgiving Day, including 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, a giant schnauzer named Monty from the working group, and JJ, a Lhasa apso from the non-sporting group. Verde, a rust and black colored Welsh terrier from the terrier group captured the second place prize, known as Reserve Best in Show.  

According to the American Kennel Club, pugs live to love and to be lovedpugs live to love and to be loved in return.  Once the mischievous companion of Chinese emperors, the “small but solid” pug is adored by millions of fans around the world, says the AKC. 

The National Dog Show was founded in 1879 and has been held annually since 1933. It’s been televised since 2002, and has become a popular Thanksgiving tradition, with an estimated 20 million animal lovers tuning in to watch, according to Purina, which presented the show.  This year, a new breed, the Lancashire heeler, made a debut at the show, after it joined the AKC’s list of official dog breeds in January.