The world’s most pampered pooches paraded into Madison Square Garden on Monday, all with hopes of being crowned top dog.
The Westminster Kennel Club will name its Best in Show Tuesday night from among 2,700 entries at the Westminster Dog Show.
One of the early winners Monday was newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst-Shaw, whose pooch was named best female French bulldog.
Hearst-Shaw’s dogs arrived at the early-round competition at Piers 92 to 94 with their own security guard, the only pooches with private protection.
“You make an educated guess when they’re young whether they have a chance to do well,” said Hearst-Shaw, who is well known in dog-show circles for producing top French bulldogs and notorious for aiding the left-wing terrorists who kidnapped her in 1974. “Then you hope they hold it together.”
Other dogs will lead glamorous off-the-leash lives, win or lose Monday and Tuesday.
Alvin Lee Jr. from Battlefield, Wash., said his French bulldog, Sweetheart, has a $3,800 Tiffany’s choker back home, along with a $4,000 oil portrait of her that he commissioned.
“She likes to see herself,” Lee said.
All the breed winners will be judged in seven groups — toy, sporting, working, hound, herding, nonsporting and terrier. Of the seven best-of-group dogs, one will be named Best in Show.
The show’s top prize is expected to be named just before 11 p.m. and televised live on the USA Network.
Additional reporting by David K. Li