What do Lindsey Dicken, Victor Rosado, Mackensie Murphy, Michelle Breen, Cat Opson, and Cheryl Purcell have in common with Michael Phelps? Well, while this U.S.A. team may not be breaking records in the 100-fly, they are winning gold medals . . . in grooming! On Oct. 1, the AKC-sponsored U.S.A. team participated in the World […]

There's a special event at the AKC National Championship presented by Royal Canin in Orlando, Fla. where the only competition may be for which dog breed you fall in love with first. AKC Meet the Breeds® gives dog lovers, adults and children, alike, a unique chance to meet and play with dogs of more than […]

The American Kennel Club® (AKC®) and Royal Canin are pleased to announce the judging panel for the 2016 National Championship to be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, December 17 and Sunday, December 18, 2016. The 2016 event will showcase the top national and international dogs and will also […]

For Picks of The Litter, a regular book review series, Ranny Green critiques “Two Dogs and a Parrot: What Our Animal Friends Can Teach Us About Life" (Blue Bridge). This cranial jukebox of enriching stories reflects a tough realism throughout whether the subject is an Irish Setter, Golden Retriever, or a medium-sized parrot. The internationally […]

There is a general movement within the dog world that has breeders and their clubs looking for new ways to make breed improvements. This is occurring because of the growing arsenal of tools available to breeders and their clubs. Given these conditions, the opportunity for making improvements is well within the reach of most clubs […]

Seeming to float around the dog show ring, with a silky, lustrous coat waving, some long-coated breeds may inspire envy in their human admirers: As a silver Afghan Hound glided past, a spectator turned to her companion and said, “I’d kill to have hair like that!” But even dogs who’ve never stepped foot in a […]

Swarms of setters, hordes of herders, oodles of Poodles— with the seemingly endless variety of dogs gaiting around AKC show rings, you might assume every breed in creation is represented. Actually, hundreds of breeds from around the world are outside the AKC orbit. Here are just a few:   ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG Birthplace: northern Portugal Job […]

At the Annual Meeting of the American Kennel Club on March 8, 2016, the AKC Board of Directors Class of 2020 was elected. The three Directors elected were:     •       Patricia M. Cruz, Delegate from the Heart of the Plains Kennel Club.     •       William J. Feeney, Delegate from the Sir Francis Drake Kennel Club, Inc. […]

The Westminster Kennel Club recently announced that Mr. Thomas H. Bradley III is scheduled to judge Best in Show at the club’s 141st dog show Feb. 13–14, 2017. A lifetime participant in the dog sport, Mr. Bradley competed in his first dog show as a teenager in 1955, showing his German Shorthaired Pointer at the […]

We often hear dog shows accused of being nothing but “beauty contests.” In reality, they’re organized more like job fairs. At AKC shows, dogs are exhibited in seven groups organized by the original work the breeds were created to do. The dog judged best in each group becomes one of the final seven to vie […]