Vito is the first pug to win Best in Show at the National Dog Show: NPR

Vito the pug and handler Michael Scott are presented with Best in Show honors at the 2024 National Dog Show.

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

Vito, a small purebred dog from Chapel Hill, NC, 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,” Scott said. “I think he knows.”

Vito the award-winning pug stands on the floor of the national dog show.

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Vito beat out six other finalists for best in show at the annual dog event hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia and broadcast by NBC on Thanksgiving Day, including a climbing spaniel named Houston from the sporting group The Zit, an ibiza dog from the dog 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 Welsh terrier from the terrier group won second place, known as Reserve Best in Show.

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

The National Dog Show was founded in 1879 and has been held annually since 1933. It has 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, debuted at the show after it joined the AKC’s list of official dog breeds in January.