Canadian is Top Dog at Westminster Show

Linton with Penny and their prizes as Best in Show

Did you catch the 150th Westminster Kennel Dog Show the other day? Penny, the statuesque Doberman pinscher beat out an Afghan hound, an Old English Sheepdog, and a smooth fox terrier for the big prize.

What's especially cool about Penny is that she's from Toronto, Canada.

Her handler, Andy Linton, was very pleased -- he last won -- also with another Doberman pinscher called Indy back in 1989. 

This win with Penny was especially sweet, as Linton was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a few years ago. "I had some goals, and this was one of them."

Linton kisses Penny on their win

He has explained in interviews what it feels like to have the degenerative disease that affects movement and speech, which can impact his confidence and physical coordination when competing.

"Some days you just don't feel like moving. You're stiff and stuck in a place," he said.

But training four-year-old Penny kept him motivated.

"She's really helped me out considerably, over the last year especially," Linton said.

Originally from Brush Prairie, Washington state, Linton started out being a surfer in Southern California, not a dog handler.

But in the 1970s he started learning how to train dogs for competition, and showed his first dog in 1974 at the Beverly Hills Kennel Club. 

In 1989 he won the Westminster Kennel Dog Show -- the World Cup for dogs -- with Indy, a red Doberman. But it was quite tense days before the competition.

Penny posing with the New York skyline

When the dog arrived from California to New York, Indy almost died of bloating, with a grossly dilated stomach.

She was rushed to the Animal Medical Center where the vets knew they were dealing with a dog in competition and so they fed the dog intravenously through her legs than shave her coat. Afterwards she rested and the rest is history.

"It's pretty weird to do this 37 years later, after I've done it before," Linton said. "It's kind of an emotional moment for me."

Indeed -- what an accomplishment especially with his own personal health challenges. Highly respected by his peers, Linton has proven he is not a one-hit wonder, and plans to continue working with six dogs as long as he can.

As for Penny, after a tour around New York, including a photo call at the top of the Empire State Building, she returned to Toronto.

"Penny's going to retire from showing and become a certified therapy dog, because she loves to be pet so much," said her owner Theresa Connors-Chan. "And hopefully she'll be a mama."