Dr. Indeglia holds a blue ribbon he awarded at a dog show last year.

There’s only one top dog at Westminster, and it’s not a dog. It’s a judge.

The person picking tomorrow night’s Best in Show winner, live on national television, is Dr. Robert A. Indeglia of Narragansett. He is chief of cardiac surgery at Miriam Hospital in Providence, and someone who has been involved in showing, breeding and judging dogs most of his life.

“This is the pinnacle of dog-show judging,” Indeglia says. “It is a very great honor they would select me.”

Indeglia, 69, has judged seven times before at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, now in its 131st year. But this is his first time judging the all-important Best in Show.

“I was floored by the invitation,” Indeglia says. “After thinking about it for a while, I’ve done something for the last 30 years that got me to this position. So I do deserve it, but there are a lot of other judges who deserve it, too.”

There are about 3,000 dog judges in the country, Indeglia estimates. Over a little more than a century, only 130 have judged Westminster’s Best in Show. And millions of people will be watching thanks to cable’s USA network.

“I’ve been judging dogs so long now, I don’t feel pressure,” Indeglia says. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not excited to do this show.”

Indeglia grew up showing cocker spaniels owned by his parents, who weren’t dog-show people. After college and medical school, Indeglia returned to dog showing. He has produced 50 champions, three of which qualified for Westminster.

“None of them really won anything too big,” he says. “But they were there.”

The best 3,000 dogs from 165 breeds participate in this event. And when it comes to the Best in Show, naturally one question arises: How can you compare dogs of different breeds?

“We’re judging each dog against its specific standard,” Indeglia says. “We look at how close a dog comes to the ideal dog of that breed; and the ideal dog has not been bred.”

So using standards of coat, color, size, posture, gait, etc., a judge assesses each dog. To speak in percentages, which dog-show judges do not, a Dalmatian that’s 95 percent flawless to its breed standard will beat a Dachshund that’s 94 percent.

The Best in Show features the top dog from each of seven competition categories: sporting (such as golden retrievers and cocker spaniels; hound (such as beagles and greyhounds); working (such as boxers and Doberman pinschers); terrier (such as Airedales and Scottish terriers); toy (such as Maltese and Pomeranians); non-sporting (such as poodles and bulldogs); and herding (such as collies and German shepherds).

TV coverage of the competition begins at 8 tonight, with judging for four of the categories (working, terrier, toy and non-sporting). It resumes tomorrow at 8 p.m. with the remaining three categories (sporting, hound and herding), followed by the Best in Show finale. Lester Holt is the host for the USA telecast, with David Frei and Dr. Debbye Turner commentating.

“When you get into the level of quality at Westminster, you have probably the seven best representatives of the breed as there are anywhere in the United States and maybe the world,” Indeglia says. “The deviations from the standard are going to be very small. Obviously there has to be something else. I think showmanship takes a part. It’s not necessarily flashy, but how the dog handles himself. The bulldog will not be quite as flashy going around the ring as the Afghan. There is bulldog attitude and Afghan attitude.”

Be the best breed you can be. That’s how a dog wins Best in Show.

Indeglia, obviously, is a very big dog person. He owns six: three whippets, one Labrador retriever, one Norwegian elkhound and one Yorkshire terrier, Shorty, 5, who accompanies the doctor to his office.

The only slightly frustrating part of being picked to judge Best in Show, Indeglia says, is he can’t participate in any of the many Westminster parties, programs and events going on today and tomorrow in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“I have nothing to do with the dog show until I go into the ring for Best in Show,” he says. “That’s how Westminster wants it. I don’t want any suggestion of impropriety or unfair contact with anybody.”

So Indeglia will miss most of the show itself, except for the very end, when he has to do his job.

“Everyone says, ‘You’ve gone for the last 30 years to Westminster and gone to all these events. It’s going to be difficult for you not to go.’ My response is ‘No, there will be no other time in my life that I will be doing Best in Show at Westminster. It’s the greatest honor a dog-show judge can get. It will be worth it for me to miss all these things for the 15 minutes I’ll be there.’ ”

brourke@projo.com