FLINT HILL, Virginia (Reuters Life!) - Until a lanky five-year-old Scottish deerhound won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York 2011 few people knew about the large, gentle breed.

But Hickory, the 85-pound (38-kg) grey and white female who nabbed the top prize from about 2,600 competitors in February, could change that.

She is the first deerhound to win at Westminster and has shown traits of a champion since her win at a North Carolina show in 2007.

"People kept telling me that we should keep showing Hickory," Cecilia Dove, who bred and raised Hickory, told Reuters in an interview. "But we couldn't afford to do that on our own, our first son was in college and second son was starting college."