Best In Show-Winning Poodle Had a Surprising Secret Weapon: McDonald’s

If you’ve kept up to date with this year’s installment of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show—basically the Super Bowl of dog events—you know that Siba, the puffy black standard poodle, took home Best in Show honors this week.

What you may not know is that Siba’s secret weapon was probably the exact opposite of what us humans might eat before submitting ourselves for judgment on one of the world’s biggest stages: McDonald’s.

As the New York Times reports, Siba’s owner Chrystal Murray says the poodle is quite fond of chicken. The only problem was that before judgment of the nonsporting group (which Siba won on the way to her overall title), Murray couldn’t find any. For prestigious show dogs, especially a prim and posh poodle, any deviation from the show-day routine could undo a year’s worth of work.

So, Murray decided that McDonald’s chicken was better than no chicken at all. Murray sent her husband out of Madison Square Garden to a nearby McDonald’s, where he grabbed what a grilled chicken sandwich. The desperate move was enough to propel Siba to a nonsporting group win on Monday night. Murray decided not to mess with success, feeding Siba some fast food chicken before she took home Best in Show on Tuesday. Siba even got to snack on a little more chicken when she made her post-victory appearance on the Today Show.

That’s certainly disappointing news for fans of Daniel, the popular Golden Retriever who came oh-so-close to becoming the first of his breed to ever win Best in Show. If I were his owner, I’d start stocking up on fast food to make sure the real best dog had a fighting chance next year.

Does this mean we’re on the verge of seeing McDonald’s branded dog food? Probably not. But it does go to show that even the world’s best dogs can have a little McChicken, as a treat.