This is no ordinary Banana Joe
Monkey-faced dog wins Westminster
NEW YORK — Banana Joe, a black dog with a monkey-like face, became the first affenpinscher to win Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday night.
“He’s won a lot of big, big shows, but none like this one,” said his handler, Ernesto Lara, who held onto Joey, as he calls him, during a post-show news conference.
Joey sat calmly, as if he could have gone back onto the floor of Madison Square Garden and taken on his challengers again.
He stuck his tongue out as Lara answered questions. He didn’t appear to need any celebratory drinks or snacks.
“I don’t think he has anything to prove,” Lara said. “I’m not bragging, this is just the way he is. The best thing is that I was in cue with him.”
He added: “This isn’t a breed you train. He’s like a human. You befriend him.”
Joey, who will turn 6 next month, will retire, as many Westminster winners do. He will no longer be Lara’s bedmate in Bowmansville, Pa.
Instead, he will head back to the Netherlands, where he was bred and born. The judge, Michael Dougherty, had no doubt that he made the right choice.
“This little fella seemed to want it a touch more,” Dougherty said. “He’s a fantastic affenpinscher, with a fantastic face, a great body. I’ve never had my hands on a better affenpinscher. Ever.”
He added: “He has the muscle tone of a big dog.”
Dougherty selected Joey, the toy group winner, over six other group winners: Matisse, a Portuguese water dog; Honor, a bichon frise; Jewel, an American foxhound; Swagger, an Old English sheepdog who got most of the crowd’s cheers; Oakley, a German wire-haired pointer, and Adam, a smooth fox terrier whose face, one side black, one side white, was like Frank Gorshin’s as the alien Bele in a Star Trek episode.
“Seven fantastic dogs presented in the most immaculate manner,” he said.
When he made his decision, Dougherty walked to a table on the sideline, signed some papers and emerged to announce Banana Joe’s victory.
Lara ecstatically lifted his little competitor in the air, wiggled him back and forth and secured him in a hug.
“I had, absolutely, the time of my life,” Dougherty said.
So did Banana Joe, the monkey-faced dog with the deadpan wit.