SeeCalifornia.com

A retired California trial judge, David Merriam, took his time picking the Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Show at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, and he gave the audience a bit of a shock. Ignoring crowd favorites, it took him 20 minutes to select the same dog that a Great Dane, Elmer, chose as he watched the drama unfold on his family’s TV (photo above, left). A cute little 15″ Beagle named “Ch Tashtins Lookin For Trouble” won the Best in Show on Feb. 17, following in the footsteps of Uno, the first beagle to ever win the big show in 2008. This year the young Canadian who was born in 2011 trotted through her paces several times per the judge’s orders. At 11 p.m. the dogs and crowds were restless but the judge wasn’t– remember, he’s from California where it was only 8 p.m. And with this honor bestowed upon a Beagle nicknamed Miss P, will she be going to Disneyland to celebrate? Nope. She’s retiring to motherhood.  If you want to know what the Ch before the winning dog’s name indicates, here’s past event coverage that explains. You might also like to see photos of dogs from previous competitions.