Sydney<\/a> Showground on Sunday to watch the best Australian dogs of different breeds, ages and sizes compete for prizes.<\/p>\nThere were lanky deerhounds and wrinkled dogues de Bordeaux, tiny papillons and sober basset hounds.<\/p>\n
Whimpers could be heard from the kennels and dog fur was thick in the air, as owners brushed immaculate coats and supplied treats to nervous pooches.<\/p>\n
Owners matched outfits with their model dogs, sporting shiny dresses and classy suits. After years of training and months of qualifying events this was their grand final, and you could feel the nervous tension in the air.<\/p>\n
Anton, the champion of champions, is the stereotypical show dog: a beautifully groomed black poodle with apom pom haircut and a long and slim physique. By any measure, this dog has movie star looks.<\/p>\n
And on Sunday he knew it, parading with the assurance of a dog who has been to the show and won it before.<\/p>\n
His handler and co-owner, James Bennett, was nervous. A dog groomer by trade, he was wearing a light blue jacket and hiding his anxiety once in the ring, exuding calm and charm in front of the judges.<\/p>\n
But the tension was rising. The placeholders of this pinnacle event were announced with the theatre of a season finale of The Bachelor. The runner-up was announced, then the judges asked the remaining dogs to parade around the ring one last time.<\/p>\n
Just as Anton trotted past the crowd, the announcer declared: \u201cThe poodle has won; it\u2019s the first-ever back-to-back winner in the show\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett, heedless of his pale linen, fell to the ground. Anton jumped all over him, euphoric and victorious. The crowd rose up in a thunderous standing ovation.<\/p>\n
Bennett is a third-generation competitor in the show; his grandmother and his mother competed before him. He called winning the ultimate prize two years in a row a dream come true.<\/p>\n
Getting four-year-old Anton, who is co-owned by his breeder, ready for the show was a regimented process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know every year he\u2019s shown here, he\u2019s won the breed,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cWe knew every year he would need to look at a certain level.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou start getting ready for this event, thinking of how you want him to look six months out, eight weeks out, basically making sure everything is solid before the big day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite making history, Bennett and his family planned a quiet celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re going to sit at home and maybe have some champagne, just soak it all in,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a big couple days and huge couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Anton, he has one last show ahead of him, the biggest of them all. Bennett and Anton are to compete at the World Dog Championship in Bologna, Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s representing Australia in Italy, like the dog show Olympics,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty special. We\u2019re planning this year to be his last year; he\u2019s accomplished everything he can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anton knew he\u2019d won, jumping up and down as though he\u2019d crossed a finish line first, celebrating as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-376895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}