What dog has won Westminster the most? Here’s What to Expect

Best In Show Awards By Breed (1907-2022)

115 total awards. (AKC rules did not allow for a BIS award in 1923.)

TOTAL BREEDS & VARIETIES
15 Wire Fox Terrier
8 Scottish Terrier
6 English Springer Spaniel
5

Poodle (Standard) Pekingese

4

Airedale Terrier Boxer Doberman Pinscher

Smooth Fox Terrier Sealyham Terrier
3 German Shorthaired Pointer Pointer Poodle (Miniature)
2 Afghan Hound Beagle (15 Inch) Bichon Frise Bulldog Cocker Spaniel (Black) German Shepherd Dog Lakeland Terrier Newfoundland Norwich Terrier Old English Sheepdog Poodle (Toy) West Highland White Terrier
1

Affenpinscher Bedlington Terrier Bloodhound Bull Terrier (Colored) Bull Terrier (White) Clumber Spaniel Cocker Spaniel (A.S.C.O.B.) Cocker Spaniel (Parti-Color) Collie (Rough) English Setter Irish Water Spaniel Kerry Blue Terrier Papillon

Pomeranian Pug Scottish Deerhound Siberian Husky Skye Terrier Standard Schnauzer Sussex Spaniel Welsh Terrier Whippet Yorkshire Terrier

Best In Show Handlers:

Note: The handlers for the Best In Show winning dogs are unknown for 1910, 1911, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1922

MOST BEST IN SHOW WINS AS A HANDLER:
4 *Percy Roberts 1926, 1927, 1934, 1937
4 *Peter Green 1968, 1977, 1994, 1998
3 Donald Munro 1907, 1908, 1909 (same dog)
3 *Anne Hone Rogers 1956, 1959, 1961
3 *Gabriel Rangel 2010, 2014, 2019
2 John G. Bates 1930, 1931 (same dog)
2 *McClure Halley 1932, 1939
2 *Robert Gorman 1942, 1958
2 H.E. Mellenthin 1940, 1941 (same dog)
2 *Nate Levine 1947, 1951
2 *Peter Knoop 1952, 1953 (same dog)
2 *George Ward 1962, 1985
2 *Clint Harris 1971, 1972 (same dog)
2 *William Trainor 1979, 1982
2 *Michelle Ostermiller 2004, 2005
2 *Kellie Fitzgerald 2000, 2007
2 *Scott Sommer 2001, 2009
2 *Bill McFadden 2003, 2018
2 David Fitzpatrick 2012, 2021
BEST IN SHOW WINS BY FEMALE HANDLERS:
1935 Mrs. Sherman Hoyt
1956 *Anne Hone Rogers
1957 Sunny Shay
1959 *Anne Hone Rogers
1960 *Clara Alford
1961 *Anne Hone Rogers
1970 *Jane Kamp Forsyth
1974 *Jo Shellenbarger
1978 Maureen Lutovsky
1980 Trish Kanzler
1984 *Gerlinde Hockla
1995 *Maripi Wooldridge
1996 *Jane Alston Myers
2000 *Kellie Fitzgerald
2004 *Michelle Ostermiller
2005 *Michelle Ostermiller
2006 *Kathryn Kirk
2007 *Kellie Fitzgerald
2011 *Angela Lloyd
2016 *Valerie Nunes-Atkinson
2020 *Chrystal Murray Clas
2022 *Heather Buehner (fka Helmer)
HUSBAND AND WIFE HANDLERS TO EACH WIN BEST IN SHOW:
1964 Bob Forsyth
1970 Jane Kamp Forsyth
BREEDER-OWNER-HANDLER WINNING BEST IN SHOW:
1918 R. H. Elliott
1921 William T. Payne
1940 1941 H. E. Mellenthin
1945 T. H. Snethen
1957 Sunny Shay
1969 Walter Goodman
1983 Chris Terrell
2016 Valerie Nunes-Atkinson
2017 Kent Boyles
2021 David Fitzpatrick
2022 Heather Buehner (fka Helmer)

Breeder-Owners also won Best In Show in 1910*, 1922*, 1924, 1938, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1963, 1975, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2015. (*handler unknown)

Multiple Best In Show Wins:

DOGS:
1907 1908 1909 Smooth Fox Terrier Ch. Warren Remedy
1915 1916 Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Matford Vic
1917 1920 Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Conejo Wycollar Boy
1930 1931 Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Pendley Calling of Blarney
1940 1941 Cocker Spaniel (Black) Ch. My Own Brucie
1952 1953 Doberman Pinscher Ch. Rancho Dobe’s Storm
1971 1972 English Springer Spaniel Ch. Chinoe’s Adamant James
SAME OWNER, DIFFERENT DOG:
1926 1934 1937 Halleston Kennels (Stanley Halle)
1932 1939 Giralda Farms (Mrs. Geraldine Dodge)
1942 1950 Mrs. J. G. Winant
1973 1990 Mr. Ed Jenner
1979 1982 Ms. Anne E. Snelling
1993 2000 Mrs. Julia Gasow
2001 2009 Ms. Cecelia Ruggles
2005 2016 Ms. Valerie Nunes-Atkinson
2008 2015 Mr. Eddie Dziuk
2014 2019 Mr. Victor Malzoni Jr.
2012 2021 Mr. David Fitzpatrick
2012 2021 Ms. Iris Love
2012 2021 Ms. Sandra Middlebrooks
SAME BREEDER, DIFFERENT DOGS, SAME BREED:
1947 1949 Mr. & Mrs. John P. Wagner
1992 2000 Mrs. Julia Gasow
SAME BREEDER, DIFFERENT DOGS, DIFFERENT BREEDS:
1996 2009 Mr. Douglas Johnson

What dog breed has won Westminster the most?

We can all agree that the competitors in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show — past, present, and future — are all just the goodest boys and girls ever. But that being said, the judges are forced to declare one of those dogs as “Best in Show” each and every year.

Since 1907 — the first year that Best in Show was awarded — the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has awarded the title to a dog from the Terrier group a whopping 48 times. And of those 48 winners, 15 were Wire Fox Terriers. The second-winningest breed, Scottish Terriers, has won a total of eight times.

The rest of the doggie groups don’t even come close to putting up the same numbers as the Terrier group, either. For example, the Sporting group has produced the second-highest number of Best in Show winners, which amount to just 20 since 1907. (The English Springer Spaniel, a Sporting dog and the third-most winningest breed, has only won Best in Show six times.)

Of course, one group always seems to fall to the back of the back. Of the seven groups judged at Westminster — the Terrier, Sporting, Hound, Working, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding groups — only two Herding dogs (both German Shepherds) have ever been recognized as Best in Show. (Its worth noting that the Herding group has only existed since 1983, when it broke away from the Working group to have its own category.)

The results don’t appear to reflect the popularity of a given breed, however. The Labrador Retriever, which has been ranked as the American Kennel Club’s “most popular breed” in the United States since 1991, has never won a single Best in Show title.

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will take place on Monday and Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.