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No need to wait a week to catch a peek at the world’s most beautiful celebrities at the Academy Awards. Tune into CNBC  tomorrow (Feb. 20) from 3-9pm EST and see the sensational stars judged best and most beautiful at the legendary Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show inside Madison Square Garden. (Photos: The 2012 Best In Show Trophy was awarded to “Ch Palacegarden Malachy” a.k.a. “Malachy,” a Pekingese shown on left.)

Talk about luxurious hairdos, strutting your stuff, smiling for the media and starpower, it’s hard to top these dogs with attitude. Watching their amazing gaits and seeing their sparkling personalities as they step onto the green carpet will spellbind you. Their appearances are every bit as riveting as glancing at Hollywood’s finest doing the same on their red carpet. Similar sums of money went into primping the look for stars in both shows. You’ll see the dog show has bite and is really something to bark at.

The 136th Annual Dog Show was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City of Feb. 13 & 14, 2012. Be the judge as you examine these near-perfect specimens and try to decide who the winner is.  For information, photos and videos, be sure to check out westminsterkennelclub.org.

• Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is America’s second-longest continuously held sporting event. Westminster was established in 1877, pre-dating the founding of the governing body of the sport, the American Kennel Club, which was established in 1884.
• Westminster pre-dates the invention of the light bulb and the automobile, the building of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Washington Monument, the invention of basketball and the establishment of the World Series.
• The dog show has outlasted three previous versions of Madison Square Garden, and is currently being staged in MSG IV.
• The first telecast of Westminster was in 1948, three years before  “I Love Lucy” premiered.
• There have been a total of 299,024 dogs entered in Westminster’s 134 shows through 2010
• A portion of the proceeds from Westminster’s first show in 1877 was donated to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to establish a home for stray and disabled animals.
• Two dogs have won Best In Show at both Westminster and Crufts in Birmingham, England, each of them winning at the English show before coming to the America.

For those who believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder, check out the World’s Ugliest Dogs!