By Martie Thompson
editor@floridanewsline.com
Zoe Keffer, a 15-year-old sophomore at Mandarin High School, won Best of Breed at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show with Margie, a female Rottweiler for whom Keffer serves as a professional handler. Keffer is no novice to the sport of dog showing; she has been a junior handler since the age of 10 and last year, her own dog, Lux, qualified for Westminster. Lux, also a Rottweiler, went on to win Select in her breed, meaning she was the second best female of all the Rottweilers at the competition.
This year, Keffer and Margie finished even better with the Best of Breed ribbon.
“Westminster is one of the biggest shows in the US,” Keffer said. “All the top dogs are there. I didn’t expect to get a ribbon, so I would say this finish was definitely more than I expected.”
Keffer has shown Margie at shows for about a year and a half leading up to Westminster. She said that only the top five dogs are invited to Westminster and Margie was not one of them, but they were entered into a raffle entry and won admittance to the show.
This year due to COVID, instead of the usual Madison Square Garden, Westminster was held in Lancaster, NY. Other COVID protocols included additional security, COVID testing for attendees, and no spectators.
“It is a big honor to win Best of Breed at Westminster,” Keffer said. “The breed ring is very competitive, but when we won, there was a lot of congratulating from the other competitors.”
With the Best of Breed win, Keffer became the first junior handler to win Best of Breed in Rottweilers at Westminster in the show’s 145 year history. And, Keffer said, out of those 145 years, Margie is only the third female to win Best of Breed.
After her breed win, Margie qualified for the group round, but did not place. Rottweilers are part of the Working Group, which is one of seven groups with the winner of each going on to compete for Best in Show.
With this major win behind her, Keffer is looking forward to next year’s Westminster. She has already qualified in junior showmanship with her golden retriever, Stryker. Keffer’s Rottweiler Lux had puppies eight months ago and she will begin showing them as well.
Photo courtesy Zoe Keffer
Zoe Keffer and Margie at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
