Westminster Dog Show 2022: Trumpet Is the First-Ever Bloodhound To Win Best in Show
Matthew Eisman / Getty
Strike up the band: A goofball bloodhound named Trumpet has won Best in Show at the 146th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
Judge Donald Sturz Jr. chose Trumpet—registered name GCHB CH Flessner's Toot My Own Horn—over the six other group winners in the Best in Show ring Wednesday night. He's the first bloodhound to win the top honor at Westminster.
Trumpet, owned by Chris Flessner, Bryan Flessner, Heather Helmer, and Tina Kocar, won the Hound Group on Tuesday night at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, N.Y. In the Best in Show ring, he bested Toy Group winner Hollywood (Maltese), Non-Sporting winner Winston (French bulldog), Sporting Group winner Belle (English setter), Herding Group winner River (German shepherd), Working Group winner Striker (Samoyed), and Terrier Group winner MM (Lakeland terrier).
"I am so excited for Trumpet," his handler, Heather Buehner, told the FOX broadcast team.
RELATED: Westminster Dog Show 2021 Results: Pekingese Wasabi Takes Home Best in Show
More than 3,000 dogs entered Westminster this year, which was again relocated to the stately Lyndhurst when the COVID-19 pandemic foiled the originally scheduled show in January at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
Winston, this year's top-ranked dog, won Reserve Best in Show (second place).
Westminster is a conformation show, so the dogs are judged against their breed standards rather than against the other dogs. So three judges—at the breed, group, and Best in Show stages—decided Trumpet best conformed to the bloodhound's standards.
He's also the best, as it turns out, at chomping on reporter's microphones.
"He has a lot of attitude and he's a little crazy," Buehner said before he went after the mic again.
Bloodhounds are slobbery, flappy dogs who excel at tracking and hunting. Those folds play an important role: They cover the bloodhound's eyes, allowing him to focus entirely on sniffing. With 230 million scent receptors, they can probably find just about anything.
Thankfully, that Best in Show trophy wasn't too far away.
