A St. Bernard from Pawcatuck won "Best of Breed" honors Tuesday at the Westminster Kennel Club 139th Annual Dog Show.

Atreyu, a 2-year-old St. Bernard who goes by the nickname Trey at home, is owned by Brian Quagliaoli and Amanda Szajda and goes by the registered name of Szajda's Neverending Story.

"It's great. I kind of considered us the underdogs," Szajda said during a phone call from the show in New York on Tuesday. "At home he's a big couch potato and part of the family. It was a great experience to see him make it on TV."

Miss P, a beagle, won the top prize, Best in Show, defeating six rivals at Madison Square Garden.

Szajda said she breeds and exhibits St. Bernards. Quagliaoli is a dog trainer at My Dog's Place in Mystic.

St. Bernards fall into the Working Dog category at the Westminster, one of seven groups comprising several hundred breeds. The Working Dog group contains such breeds as Akita, boxer, Doberman pinscher and Great Dane.

While Trey did not win Best of Group honors, Szajda said he will continue showing throughout the year and compete for American Kennel Club breed points. A Portuguese water dog won the Working Dog group competition. Only dogs that win Group honors can advance to the Best in Show competition.

She said Atreyu was one of 10 top St. Bernards in America Kennel Club contests last year.

"We hope to do it again this year," she said.

Miss P, who won the hound group, is a grandniece to Uno, who won Best in Show in 2008.

The winner succeeds last year's champ, Sky, a wire fox terrier, and will appear on the "Today" show this morning and host the victor's traditional news conference at Sardi's.

David Merriam, a retired California state judge, made his choice shortly before 11 p.m. Eastern.

The field of seven for Best in Show also included Flame, a black standard poodle who took the nonsporting group title, and Rocket, a shih tzu whose ownership group includes Patty Hearst.

The others were Swagger, an Old English sheepdog, the champion of the herding group; Liz, an English springer spaniel who won the sporting group; Matisse, a Portuguese water dog who won the working group for the third consecutive year and has collected 238 best-in-show titles in his career; and Charlie, a Skye terrier. Terriers have won 46 times at Westminster, the most of any group.

The packed crowd at Madison Square Garden seemed to loudly gasp when Merriam picked Miss P in a dog show world shocker.

There's no prize money for winning Westminster. Instead, there's prestige forever in the dog circles, plus the possibility of lucrative breeding rights.

Miss P also earned a full day today - appearances of morning TV shows, a meeting with Donald Trump, lunch at prominent Manhattan restaurant Sardi's and a walk-on part in the Broadway hit musical "Kinky Boots."

It was the 20th best in show win in the United States for the Canadian-born Miss P. Her call name is short for Peyton, and her official champion's name is Tashtins Lookin for Trouble.

One of her owners is Eddie Dziuk, a co-owner of Uno, who now lives on a ranch in Texas.

Merriam is a retired California trial-courts judge. He has spent more than 50 years with dogs, but this was the first time he'd judged a best in show.

The New York Times and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay