Vito the pug won this year’s National Dog Show, winning the “Toy” category and beating out more than 1,900 other canine competitors.

Vito was the first pug to be declared “Best in Show” in the contest’s time on television.

He “has a beautiful head and expression, he’s a very compact dog which they’re supposed to be, and his movement, he’s got wonderful movement inside which is appealing to a lot of people,” his handler, Michael Scott, said while being interviewed after the win.

The victory was not a first for either Vito or Mr. Scott. Vito was declared the best pug at the 2023 American Kennel Club National Show and the Westminster Dog Show this year, while Mr. Scott previously helped win the National Dog Show with Pointer dog Holly in 2008, according to The New York Times.

It was, however, the first National Dog Show win for Vito’s co-owner.

“I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years and this is my first Best in Show at the National Dog Show in Philadelphia. Just thrilled to be on that Thanksgiving Day broadcast,” owner Carolyn Koch of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, told the New York Post.

Vito is ranked the No. 11 all-breed dog, the No. 2 toy dog and first among pugs nationwide by the Purina Pro Club, a membership organization of breeders, pet competitors and experts associated with the pet food company.

“Vito is the best pug we have bred. He has beautiful structure, a pretty face, the breed’s iconic curly tail, a square body, level topline, good bone and depth of chest. He has a lot of charisma and loves dog shows,” Joy Barbieri, who bred Vito, said in a Purina Pro Club release.

The contest, held by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia, has been aired on NBC after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade since 2002. The roughly 1,940 dogs competed on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, with the televised program airing on tape delay.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.