Tomorrow, he takes on its top dog show.

Winston is a 19-month-old beagle, precisely bred to become all the best his breed can be.

He's trained his whole life for this: a table examination from a judge at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

He'll stand - what trainers call stacked - on that table on the floor of Madison Square Garden in New York City with tail erect, front paws planted, head slightly lifted.

If Winston were in the Army he'd be standing at attention.

The judge will pass by his owner, trainer and friend, 15-year-old Emily Goldstein, and eye the pair carefully. The judge will examine the dog and watch how Goldstein handles him.

Goldstein, a sophomore at East Chapel Hill High School, has been prepping Winston for months. She competes at dog shows within a five-hour drive nearly every weekend; she's done about 100 shows leading up to this one, the Super Bowl of the dog world.

Winston is already considered a "champion" dog; you have to be to qualify for Westminster. Dogs become champions by accumulating points from wins at local dog shows throughout the year.

He stands at attention for Goldstein easily: eyes focused, alert and forward. When his tail starts to droop, a brush of Goldstein's finger brings it back up.

Goldstein says she saw a dog show on TV when she was 4 years old and immediately knew she wanted to work with dogs. Her parents sent her to a dog obedience class at the Durham Kennel Club with the family dog, and she hasn't stopped training since. The family has Winston; Lena, a 6-year-old Doberman; and Chester the Chihuahua, also 6. "I've always been obsessed with dogs as long as I can remember," she said.

Goldstein has been showing dogs since she was 9. She showed Lena for three years, then decided to switch to the beagle after her mentor in the field offered to help her breed one.

"It's very different going from a Doberman to beagle. ... It's been a pretty big learning curve," she said.

Dobermans are more inclined to please, while beagles are feistier, focused on the nose and their hunting instincts, she said.

Many young people who show dogs come from a family tradition, but Goldstein and her parents knew nothing about the sport until they began training classes at the Durham Kennel Club. "I'm proud of what Emily has done, and she has done it on her own," said her mother, Donna Goldstein, who works in the pharmeceutical industry.

At Westminster, dogs displayed by professional handlers are traditionally judged on how well they conform to the top dog in its breed, called the breed standard. They're not competing against one another.

Goldstein could compete with the professionals but will instead compete in the junior showmanship category for handlers ages 9 to 18. In this category, judges evaluate the handler, not the strictly the dog's physique.

"It's one of the few sports where you can be an amateur competing against a professional," said Phil Goldstein, Emily's dad.

Goldstein is 10th overall in the junior category in the country, No. 1 in the hound category and No. 1 in the beagle breed. About 100 juniors from across the country will compete at Westminster in a preliminary round Monday; the finalists will compete Tuesday.

Goldstein will be making the eight-hour drive to New York with her friend and fellow competitor, Lauren Williams, 19, of Cary. Williams is showing Hula, her English springer spaniel at the competition. She has competed in the junior showmanship at Westminster twice.

In its 136th year, the Westminster dog show is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the world, one year behind the Kentucky Derby.

The winner of "Best in Show" at Westminster is winnowed from more than 2,500 champion dogs in 173 different breeds and varieties.

"I treat it just like a normal show," Goldstein said. "I don't want to psych myself out, and if I'm nervous, the dog can tell. I really try to think of it as just another dog show, any old day."

Winston has been an ideal show dog so far. He has an inquisitive energy needed for the ring, Donna Goldstein said.

"You want that intensity to show in the show ring, but it has to be tempered. You want that dog to turn that drive on and off," she said.

Goldstein walks Winston each day, plays ball and tug of war. He's more than a show dog, he's a companion. But there's a distinct rapport that develops from training for a show.

Winston's litter was named for stops on the London subway. His father's name is Truman. His registered American Kennel Club name is CH (for champion) Lochnaw (for the name of the local kennel in Durham) Speaking in Hyde Park (for the name of the stop).

When she was coming up with names for her new beagle, Goldstein tried to think of people who may have spoken in Hyde Park. She came up with Winston Churchill.