Los Angeles, Feb 24 (TIWN / IANS) Actress Glenn Close continued her awards season streak when she won Best Female Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards, but her dog, Pip, stole the limelight.

Apart from walking on the red carpet, the Havanese pup followed her up on stage when Close went to accept the statuette, reports ew.com.

"He's my date," the actress, 71, told the audience on Saturday. 

As she began to say, "I am so honoured to be here with all the women in this category. So so honoured," Close - and the camera - became distracted by 'Sir Pippin of Beanfield' (as he's known on Instagram) when he started rolling around on his back.

"What's better than that?" Close asked the audience. "I brought him up for this very reason. It's called ‘in the moment'."

Close, who also won Best Actress - Drama at the Golden Globes earlier this year, praised "The Wife" team, including director Bjorn Runge.