Penny the Doberman Takes the 150th Westminster Crown

A milestone anniversary show. A 4½-year-old bitch with a taste for snacks and squirrels. A handler who'd waited nearly four decades to feel this particular kind of thrill again. That's the shape of the 2026 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, and it ended exactly the way the old-timers in the crowd hoped it would.

Who Won Westminster 2026?

Penny the Doberman Pinscher Claims Best in Show

A 4½-year-old female Doberman Pinscher named Penny, formally MBIS/MBISS GCHP CH Connquest Best of Both Worlds, won Best in Show at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show presented by Purina Pro Plan. Penny beat out 2,500 dogs spanning more than 200 breeds to take the top prize. The win happened on the night of Feb. 3, 2026, in New York, at Madison Square Garden.

She was handled by Andy Linton of Vancouver, Washington, marking his second Best in Show win with a Doberman. Co-owner Greg Chan of Toronto rounded out her team.

Best in Show judge David Fitzpatrick didn't hold back on the praise. He called the finalist lineup "one that will go down in history," adding of Penny specifically that she has "a beautiful head, great balance and angulation." "She looks like she has a job to do," he said — about as clean a summary of a working dog's presence as you'll hear ringside.

The Winning Record

The history here runs deep. The Doberman has now won Best in Show at Westminster five times total: in 1939, back-to-back in 1952 and 1953, in 1989 with Linton, and now in 2026 with Linton again. It's the first time a Doberman has won the whole thing since 1989, and Penny is the 42nd female to take the title.

Runner-up honors — and cheers just as loud — went to a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Cota. Cota made a bit of history herself as the very first retriever to have ever placed at Westminster, even if the top spot stayed with the Working Group.

What Makes a Best in Show Dog?

Breed Standard & Temperament

Westminster judging isn't a popularity contest or a trick-performance showcase. Each dog is assessed according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed. For a Doberman, that ideal is written down in precise language by the AKC. The official standard calls for a temperament that is energetic, watchful, determined, alert, fearless, loyal and obedient. The appearance is that of a dog of medium size, with a body that is square — compactly built, muscular and powerful, for great endurance and speed.

That's the paperwork version. The lived version, according to the people who actually own her, is a bit more charming. Penny's team described her as friendly but sharp-eyed — the sort of dog who can flip from relaxed to fully switched-on in an instant. She's generally "very chill," Linton said, "but she can get pretty pumped up for a bad guy. Or a squirrel." Co-owner Greg Chan added that Penny is "very demanding and very smart," but also "a pleaser - she'll do anything for food." Her favourite snack? "Everything."

That's the trick with a great show dog: the breed standard describes the frame, but personality is what a judge actually sees moving around the ring.

The Judge's Eye

Fitzpatrick isn't new to this pressure. He has won Best in Show at Westminster himself twice, and on this night he judged Best in Show, choosing one winner and one Reserve Best in Show from the seven group winners. Picking a single dog out of seven group champions, each one already a specialist at the top of its own breed, is less about spotting flaws and more about finding the one animal whose whole presentation — structure, movement, condition, composure — lines up cleanest with what its breed was built to do.

Penny's Path to the Trophy

Show History & Handler Partnership

Penny wasn't a surprise contender who came out of nowhere. She was a crowd favorite at the 2025 Westminster show and has rocked show rings since. Linton, who has campaigned her for two and a half years, said she's "friendly, a wonderful dog," even if she can get keyed up.

The handler side of this story carries its own weight. Linton's earlier Westminster win, back in 1989, was with a red female Doberman named Indy — CH Royal Tudor's Wild As The Wind UD TDX, a legendary winner in the breed. Despite health problems, he guided the 4-year-old dog through an impeccably crisp performance on the night. "I have been showing Dobermans since 1974, and Penny is as great a Doberman Pinscher as I've ever seen," Linton said. "I had some goals, and this was one of them," he added, noting that as he winds down his career, a milestone 150th-show win landed as "extra-special."

Why Dobermans on the Westminster Stage

Part of what makes a Doberman win feel special is scarcity — it's happened five times in a show with 150 years of history, and the breed had gone unrewarded at the top for over three decades before Penny. The AKC describes the Doberman as sleek and powerful, possessing both a magnificent physique and keen intelligence, and calls it an incomparably fearless and vigilant breed — qualities that read as elegant restraint in the ring rather than raw obedience-trial precision. It's a breed built for purpose first, polish second, and on the night that combination clearly read as "Best in Show" to Fitzpatrick.

Westminster vs. Every Other Dog Show

Westminster crowns one dog, once a year, after two days of elimination that starts with 2,500 entrants and ends with a single trophy under the lights at Madison Square Garden. It's judged against written breed standards by people who've spent careers learning to see the difference between "good" and "ideal." That rigor is exactly why a Penny or a Cota becomes a story people repeat for years.

We run something rather different over at The Dog Show — a live stream where dogs appear one at a time, all day, every day, and the only judging panel is whoever happens to be watching chat at that moment. No breed standards, no trophies for a single champion, no elimination rounds. If you want to see how that whole format works, or if you've got a dog of your own who deserves fifteen seconds in the spotlight, here's how it all works. We're not trying to replace Westminster — we couldn't if we tried — but we figure there's room in the world for both the formal judging floor and the one that never turns the lights off.