A Newfoundlander was watching closely as Siba, a female standard poodle, took Best in Show at North America’s largest and most prestigious dog show.

Betty Regina Leininger, a native of St. John’s with deep roots in Salmon Cove, co-founded the Newfoundland All-Breed Kennel Club in the early 1960s and has shown and judged pure-bred dogs all over the world.

She’s judged at the Westminster on numerous occasions and watched this week’s event with great interest. She has been living in the United States for the last 50 years, but makes frequent trips back home where her mother still lives.

Leininger says while she wasn’t surprised the standard poodle won, she had her eye on a couple of other contestants. She thought the boxer or the whippet might take Best in Show, but jokes that armchair judging is not always the best.

Leininger knows all too well the pressure associated with judging at one of the world’s biggest dog shows.

“Something magical happens when you step out onto the floor of Madison Square Garden,” says Leininger.

It’s a lot of pressure according to Leininger, but there will be one or two special dogs out of the top seven that will speak to the judge and tell them that “this is Best in Show tonight.”