Rockville Centre's best of breed

He’s a world-class athlete, a spirited competitor and a photogenic champion — but above all, he’s a beloved household pet.

Oz, also known as Ozzie, a 2½-year-old black, curly-coated Portuguese water dog, won the Best of Breed title in the Working Group category at the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 14.

Co-owned by Marie Forgach and Connecticut breeder Jane Freeman, Oz, who lives with Forgach and her husband, Peter, in Rockville Centre, is formally known as Grand Champion Freestyle the Wiz. The son of two champions, three-time Westminster Best of Breed winner Champion Freestyle Ocean Breeze (known as Spencer) and a brown bitch named Champion Freestyle Ticket to Ride Caerlan (known as Ticket), Oz was one of 12 puppies in the “ticket stub” litter — each named after a Broadway show.

“He’s home with me, he’s my dog, he sleeps in my bed,” said Forgach, who also owns Zoe, 9, a wavy-coated black Portuguese water dog who shares the couple’s king-sized bed as well.

“It was an honor, quite a shock to us, we never expected it because he doesn’t show that much,” Forgach said of Oz’s Westminster triumph. “The sun, the moon and the stars aligned, and that’s what it was.” She also attributed the win to expert grooming by Kelly Lockwood, from Babylon, who coiffed Oz in a “Lion” trim that showed off his muscular rear end, and to skilled handling in the ring by Kimberly Pastella Calvacca, from Westbury.

Forgach said she knew she had a show-quality dog when, at just 7 months old, Oz won his first competition, at the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island. To gain the standing to compete in the prestigious Westminster show, Oz, who weighs 58 pounds, the standard for his breed, had to amass a number of points.

Great with kids, he is certified as a therapy dog and will likely start visiting libraries and nursing homes this fall, Forgach said. He also received his first water title from the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America last summer, performing a series of tasks that included swimming out to a rowboat in a lake and retrieving a floating bumper 60 feet out.