As a gray beard bike racer still trying to keep up with much younger riders I take particular pleasure in the fact that a 10 year old Sussex Spaniel named Stump just won Best In Show at Westminster. That's kind of like a 57 year old winning the Tour de France. Or something like that.
As you may heave heard, Stump came out of retirement to win this year. In 2004 Stump won the Sporting Group at Westminster and promptly went into retirement. He also recovered from a major illness in the interim. Kind of like Lance Armstrong, he didn't take illness lying down and he didn't like being on the sidelines. Way to go Stump.
And way to go Pro Plan.
Now, I admit I'm way biased here and you'll have to excuse my gloating. I used to be the Brand Director on the Pro Plan Brand and Darcie ate a lot of Pro Plan during her almost 19 years. But when you look 
at the results from this year's Westminster, it is a truly amazing accomplishment for a pet food brand.
According to Ernie Planck, the former head of the Breeder Group at Purina, Stump was not the only Pro Plan dog to do well at Westminster. In fact, and get this, every single Best in Group winner at this years show was powered by Pro Plan as Ernie likes to put it. Seven for Seven and Best In Show. Not bad.
As we discussed in the first Westminster Pod cast this week, nutrition plays an important role in conformation show dogs. While it is kind of like beauty contest, show dogs do go through a lot of physical and emotional stress. They may compete in over 100 dog shows a year. As any business person knows, travel can be both physically and emotionally draining.
These dogs need more than shiny coats. They need strong immune systems and a healthy diet is key to staying in top form. In fact all dogs need excellent nutrition and Pro Plan is at the head of that list as far as I'm concerned. And by the way, they make a full line of cat food too.
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