The active and friendly golden retriever is the winner of the people’s choice category at the Frog Recruitment Top Dog competition.
The popular dog has many strings to his bow — when he is not competing in agility or sled dog racing he is at Tisbury School with his owner Justin Crosswell.
Mr Crosswell teaches years 3, 4 and 5 at the school and said the children there loved Kingsley.
The dog could be seen throughout the day being read to by the children, cuddling upset or injured pupils or even vacuuming the classroom floors.
"Quite often when I pull up to school, if I don’t open my car to let him out, they [the students] will be looking at the gate to see if he’s going to get out of the truck or not.
"You’ll just hear, ‘aww’ if he’s not in it."
He started to take Kingsley to his job when he was just a puppy.
He noticed the children were calmer and happier when his dog was present.
When he applied for the job he told the principal they were a package deal.
"He probably spends at least 70% of the school year at school.
"The children are friendlier with each other, they’re much bubblier when he’s around.
"Quite often kids from other classes will be sent to my room just to have 10 to 15 minutes with Kingsley — just if they’ve had a wee moment or a wee meltdown or just aren’t feeling flash.
"We’ve got a variety of family situations, as most schools do."
If some children have had a rough morning at home, they can come to school and "bark up with Kingsley for a bit, which is quite nice".
Kingsley has been part of the Crosswell family for about three years.
Mr Crosswell said Kingsley was the only golden retriever who competes in sled dog racing in the country and also the only golden retriever in the highest jumpers class.
"Jumpers A is ... the hardest one and currently he is the only golden retriever in New Zealand who can do that, so he is a pretty cool dog."
Kingsley had a lot of reasons to celebrate.
Not only was he crowned the country’s top dog on Thursday but today he will be turning 3.
"He’s got a dog cake for his birthday on Saturday, but he might get that today.
"He’ll definitely be sleeping on the bed tonight.
"I am very proud of my wee golden boy."
