�y��vlog

Part of it was how closely he adhered to the Pekingese standards, approaching peak Peke with his pear-shaped body, splendid coiffure, high-set tail, cunning leonine face, rolling gait and his front half heavier than his back half.

“It’s always exciting every time, and you’re always hopeful,” said Wasabi’s handler and breeder, David Fitzpatrick, who guided the Peke’s grandfather Malachy to the Westminster title in 2012.

In Keep the Aspidistra Flying, George Orwell imagines a genteel lady “enthusing” over a book of dog photos: “a Peke, the ickle angel pet, wiv his gweat big Soulful eyes and his ickle black nosie – oh so duckyduck!”

“It was ‘Hello, little peke, hello, little peke,’ ” recalled Debra Kent, who lives in the building next to the Dakota and would see Ms. Bacall while walking her own Pekingese.

A Peke's hair naturally grows to its long length and doesn't require any trimming, just a lot of grooming.