Patty Hearst's Dog Wins Group at Westminster

Famed and infamous heiress Patty Hearst was back in the news yesterday after a dog she co-owns won its group at the Westminster Kennel Club show. The Shih Tzu called Rocket was picked as the top toy dog at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Hearst is the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst and gained great notoriety in 1974 when she was kidnapped by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army group. She was seen holding a machine gun while robbing a California bank and later spent almost two years in prison. Her sentence was commuted by Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton gave her a full pardon.

"People move on," Hearst said at the show, smiling at Rocket. "I guess people somehow imagine you don't evolve in your life. I have grown daughters and granddaughters and other things that normal people have." Hearst has been involved in the dog show world for more than 10 years and says many are surprised to find out she's moved on to play with pooches. Hearst, who turns 61 on Friday, is one of Rocket's three co-owners. The dog will will be one of seven in the championship ring tonight when best in show is chosen. Even though Hearst loves dogs, her two daughters own cats. "I don't know what I did wrong," she says. (More Patty Hearst stories.)