Sometimes called the "butterfly dog" because of its unusual ear shape—"papillon" means butterfly in French—the Papillon is one of the oldest toy breeds. Originally called the Dwarf Spaniel or Continental Toy Spaniel, the Papillon was depicted in artwork as early as the 16th century. Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette were known fans of the breed. […]

So you've fallen in love with the stunning, brilliant breed known as the German Shepherd Dog. You are not alone. The German Shepherd, also known by the shorthand GSD, is among the world's most popular canine companions and workers. If you want a job done—whether it's apprehending dangerous criminals, sniffing rubble for disaster survivors, or […]

German Shepherd Dogs are among the most popular breeds in the world, consistently in the top five AKC breed rankings for most years these records have been kept. It's not hard to understand why. German Shepherds, the result of one man's vision of canine perfection, were designed to be the ultimate in work ethic, courage, […]

From the April 2016 AKC Gazette We’re all looking for ways to make life easier—notice how popular Pinterest ideas and YouTube videos for “lifehacks” have become? Living with Field Spaniels has taught me to create some easy shortcuts as a dog owner as far as general care and maintenance, and at shows and trials it […]

Once you've learned how to pronounce it: "co-TAWN-day too-LEE-are," you'll be able to adequately sing the praises of this adorable dog. But let's stay with the French for a minute, because "joie de vivre" is the best definition of the Coton de Tulear. This lovable, happy dog originated on the island of Madagascar, perhaps from […]

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Sienna Bay Watermark Dirk DM DS TKN TKI CGC, shows off one of his tricks that helped earn him the new AKC Intermediate Trick Dog title. Eleven-year-old Kya has had an impressive career that includes a conformation championship and rally titles. Being a veteran has limited some of her activities, but that […]

A high school stadium, three sets of bleachers, and one Q-tip dipped in the scent of birch. Finding that tiny swab, planted somewhere in the arena, seemed an impossible task to Suzanne LeRoy, as she and her Border Collie, Rain, faced their first nose work competition. “It was a huge area to search,” the California […]

Whether he is comforting a terminally ill hospice patient or cavorting around an upbeat show ring, The Dude is right at home. Dewey (his nickname is "The Dude") is an almost two-year-old Norwich Terrier, owned by Becca Parkins, a Tacoma, Wash., hospice chaplain who also handles him in Western Washington dog shows on weekends. A […]

At a Glance: Researchers identified four distinct therapy dog handling styles: hands-off, permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian The new study suggests the dog's handler may impact the success therapy dog sessions Therapy dogs can have a tremendous impact on the people they interact with. From senior centers to hospitals to schools, these dogs bring joy and […]

Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C) is the world’s leading conservation detection dog organization WD4C pioneered ways to use dogs’ sense of smell to protect wildlife by building upon techniques from narcotics detection, cadaver detection, and search and rescue, Traditional survey techniques require expensive helicopters, dangerous tranquilizers, or inefficient camera traps Dogs fix all of those problems […]