A poodle owned by a Sherwood Park veterinarian and breeder has won top honours at the world-renowned Westminster Dog Show in New York City.

Kate Winsit, a 2½ -year-old standard poodle, won best of her breed at the show on Monday, defeating two of the top dogs in the United States.

"This is like the Academy Awards," said her owner Dr. Elly Holowaychuk.

"It is a culmination of years and years and years of breeding and being recognized by an internationally renowned judge who evaluated all the standard poodles in the ring and the little dark horse rose to the top."

Holowaychuk has raised poodles for more than 27 years with great success — her dogs have won 65 Canadian, 35 American and three international championships.

But Kate's win at the world's most famous dog show was completely unexpected. Holowaychuk called it a life-time achievement that she will cherish for the rest of her life.

"I'm not sure that my feet are on the ground yet today, I'm not sure that they're going to be on the ground for the rest of the week. But it's an outstanding honour."

Kate will tour around the United States for the next few weeks before returning home to her family in Sherwood Park.