Meet the 2025 Westminster ‘Best in Show’ dog, Monty the giant schnauzer

There’s a new top dog at Westminster.

And Monty the giant schnauzer, who made history with his Best in Show win at the 149th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Feb. 11, knew it when it happened.

Monty’s owner and handler, Katie Bernardin, told The Post that she started to tear up when her dog was named the winner at Madison Square Garden.

There was “no doubt in [her] mind” that her four-legged friend knew he won at the moment — though she said she noticed Monty’s demeanor changed from excited to concerned after seeing her crying.

“I never cry — that’s not an emotion that he’s used to,” Bernardin, who lives in Chaplin, Connecticut, said. “You can see in the video he’s looking at me, like, ‘What’s wrong? I thought we won.’”

The 5-year-old pup competed against a field of 2,500 show dogs of over 200 different breeds and made history as the first-ever giant schnauzer to win Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

“You never go there thinking you’re going to go Best in Show; you just go and you hope for the best,” Bernardin, 39, said. “There are no words to truly describe how proud and honored I am that he gets to be a part of Westminster history.”

Monty has competed in more than 100 dog shows this past year alone with Bernardin, who is both his owner and handler — a rarity in dog competitions.

“For it to be my own dog that I believe in and watched grow up, it was crazy to see it all unfold,” she said. “I knew he was special when he was a baby.”

“I still have a hard time believing it actually happened,” Bernardin laughed. “Even though the ribbon is sitting in my kitchen, I just look at it and think, ‘There’s no way.’”

This was Monty’s third win for the Working Group at Westminster, but it’s the first time the group — bred to assist mankind and known for being intelligent, strong, watchful and alert — has won the top spot since 2004, ending the longest drought for any group in the competition.

“For him to be the first giant schnauzer, it just seems surreal,” Bernardin said. “We are so fortunate. It’s rare for a dog to win a group three times, so it’s an honor to just win a group once there.”

“I just could not be more proud of our dog,” she added.

Westminster Kennel Club President Don Sturz noted that Bernardin and Monty are “so closely bonded” that it added “another level” to the performance.

“At the end of it all, the Best in Show winner is a great dog having a great night, just like a great athlete can have a great game,” Sturz told The Post. “There’s just something about one particular dog that just really grabs our heart and connects in that moment.”

“[Monty] owned the ring that night. He was a stallion of a dog that night,” Sturz said.

The Westminster Dog Show, which will be celebrating its 150th anniversary next year, is the second-largest continuously running sporting event in America, behind only the Kentucky Derby — and Sturz said that these history-making moments are a significant part of the show’s story.

“It’s a great testament that any dog can win Best in Show at Westminster,” Sturz said. “Any one of these dogs can make it through to the top. There’s no formula, there’s no expectation, so I love when that happens.”

“His heart and his charisma and his attitude just really carry him. He never, he never stops trying,” Bernardin added. “He loves it, he loves to be a show dog and he loves to be the center of attention. I think that attitude really helps him in the showroom.”

Though Monty came out on top as Best in Show, giant schnauzers are “not a breed for everybody,” Bernardin noted.

“They are not a pet for first-time dog owners, they’re an extreme amount of work,” she said. “They’re working dogs, so they’re meant to be busy. They need discipline, they need to be taught to be a gentleman, not a savage.”

“We love Monty, but he was hard when he was young,” Barnardin said, adding that dog lovers shouldn’t immediately go out to buy a giant schnauzer after his win without thinking it through.

“You have to have dedication to them. They’re too smart for their own good and will always keep you on your toes.”