Soleil, a Belgian sheepdog registered as GCHS Prairiewind’s Sxongs of Summer at La Neige, captured Best in Show Thursday at the National Dog Show.
“Soleil was just ‘on’ today,” said her handler, Daniel Martin of Princeton, NC. “I knew that this would be a fierce, intense competition. Soleil loves the energy, and she feels it. That’s her magic. She’ll do whatever we ask of her. She’s a winner.”
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Soleil won the Herding Group competition.
Martin said, "The adrenaline, the attention ... the dogs love it, especially Soleil."
Other group winners were:
National Dog Show contestants were judged based on overall appearance, temperament and structure according to their breeds’ official standards.
She makes your jaw drop
Judge Charlie Olvis said Soleil was "in drop-dead gorgeous condition. I mean, gorgeous condition.
“Today, that dog was ‘on.’ ... Didn’t miss a beat," he said.
David Frei, co-host of National Dog Show, describes her as athletic, elegant, beautiful.
"She makes your jaw drop," he said.
Frei told WRAL News that credit goes to Martin for Soleil's success.
"The best handlers are invisible," Frei said. "They're not really invisible because they're doing their job out there every moment. But if you're looking at the dog more often than you're looking at the handler, that's what the handler is supposed to be doing."
North Carolina native is dog show champion
Martin spoke to WRAL News after the win, saying, "We're still floating."
He is a North Carolina native, who went to Middle Creek High School and East Carolina University. He lives with his wife -- a "fourth-generation dog show person" -- and daughter in Princeton.
They have a farm and kennel to train dogs.
"It's such a great central location for dog shows," he said. "You can go north, west, south ... pretty much anywhere on the East Coast.
"And you know, climate-wise, the dogs love it."
Soleil's ownership team includes individuals from South Carolina, Oklahoma and Kansas.
Frei compared the National Dog Show to another high-stakes sporting competition familiar to North Carolinians -- March Madness.
"That's the way it works -- win and advance, win and advance," he said.
"At the end, we had almost 2,000 dogs entered in this show. That's a huge win."
A North Carolina win streak at the National Dog Show
Last year, the Best in Show award went to a pug with a different North Carolina connection.
Vito, owned by Carolyn Koch of Chapel Hill, was declared "the champion of pugs," by National Dog Show organizers.
At just 2 1/2 years old, Vito had already won Best in Show 25 times.
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