The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which has been running since 1877, may well be the world’s premier dog breeding competition.

Yes, your French bulldog is cool (even though it’s a man-made abomination of nature), but if you want to lay claim being the best in the business, you head to New York for the annual Westminster Show.

It’s been close to two weeks since the event wrapped up, but let’s look at some of the standout pictures from this year’s event with the help of the Telegraph.

That ball of fluff above is Madison the Shih Tzu, by the way.

To start, here’s the winner of the ultimate title, ‘Best in Show’, a wire fox terrier named King:

In case you doubt just how wild this competition is, here’s the moment that King was named the champ.

Skip to the 5:55 mark to save a little time:

Hear those boos? That’s because many in the crowd wanted Burns, trying to become the first dachshund of any variety to win ‘Best in Show’ at Westminster, to take the top honours.

Just look at this fine specimen in action:

According to the Guardian, Burns really was fighting against history:

…the outcome marked the 15th time a wire fox captured the highest prize in the 143-year history of the country’s most prestigious dog show, more than any other breed by a wide margin. Scottish terriers, the second most frequent winner, have triumphed eight times at the oldest continuously held sporting event in the United States after the Kentucky Derby.

“Overwhelming,” said Gabriel Rangel, the veteran California handler who steered King to the sweetest of his 47 overall best in show titles, many of which came on the European circuit. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The poised seven-year-old from Brazil with the lustrous tricolor coat and deliberate gait, a former Crufts group winner whose official champion’s name is Kingarthur Van Foliny Home, was the last dog standing after a winnowing-down process that began on Monday morning with nearly 2,800 entries in 203 breeds and varieties hailing from all 50 states and 14 other countries, including Russia, Mexico, Canada and Japan.

Happy for you, King, but Burns was the underdog that everyone was rooting for.

OK, back to more pictures from the event. Here’s a Komondorok, commonly referred to as a Hungarian sheepdog.

Yes, that’s the same breed as Mark Zuckerberg’s dog.

This picture can speak for itself:

And now for two examples of people who will one day look exactly like their dogs:

Here’s Bugaboo, an old English sheepdog, enjoying a good brushing:

You’ll find more snaps here.

I mean, those guys above are nice, but have you ever seen the look of complete and utter joy when a rescue animal finds a home?

We’re talking SPCA and DARG, where you get a new family member and the smug sense of satisfaction that comes with doing a good deed.

By the way, if you enjoy doccies about eccentric people who take great pride in their critters, then Chicken People might be worth a watch:

[sources:telegraph&guardian]