TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (WCIA) — A Bloodhound from St. Joseph is on the shortlist for the Best in Show honor at this year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
GCHB CH Flessner’s Toot My Own Horn, also known as Trumpet, will represent the Hound group Wednesday night after being named Best of Breed on Monday and Best of Group on Tuesday. Trumpet will be going up against six other group winners in hopes of being the seventh Hound to take Best in Show in the 146-year history of the show.
Heather Buehner has been Trumpet’s handler ever since he started competing at 10 months of age.
“He was kind of born a show dog; his father won the Hound group at Westminster in 2014,” Buehner said. “So we had high hopes for Trumpet.”
Trumpet lived up to those high hopes. Buehner said he started winning right away and won an American championship within five weekends. After the pandemic put Trumpet’s competitions on hold, he and Buehner came back with an invite to the 2021 Westminster show. Trumpet was named Best of Breed in that competition.
Trumpet continued that success in the first six months of 2022.
“He’s received eight Best in Shows so far this year, which is a lot to start the year off with,” Buehner said. “He does very well every weekend,”
Trumpet and Buehner are hoping to add Best in Show No. 9 on Wednesday at Westminster. They cleared one hurtle by beating nine other Bloodhouds on Monday to win Best of Breed for the second straight year. Then Trumpet cleared another hurtle on Tuesday when he won Best of Group over 34 other Hounds, winning the same honor his father won eight years earlier.
Buehner was also at Westminster that year, handling Trumpet’s father.
“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime thing and to be back here again, doing it with the second generation, it’s just so exciting,” Buehner said. “I know that Trumpet is a good Bloodhound and he is going to perform well, so basically I’m just going to let him shine and see where that takes us.”
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will air on Fox Sports 1 with Best in Show being awarded around 10 p.m. CDT.