Did You Know? – “Lights, Camera…Action!”

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136 – November/December, 2025

By Michael Canalizo

I recently participated in some press for the 25th anniversary of the smash movie “BEST IN SHOW,” which made me think of just how far-reaching the media has permeated the Dog Sport. For years, it was just the yearly national broadcast of “The Garden”…live from New York City, every February. John-Q Public retained more than a momentary notice of the pageantry of pooches, and the desire to own a purebred dog grew. But so did some distractions.

Not long after the release of the Best In Show comedic endeavor, the fancy had a less than positive program called Showdog Mom’s and Dad’s that aired nationally with a disastrous interpretation of our sport by the media. Some of the real-life participants would ultimately face disciplinary action for comments made in the production.  Seeing parts of our great sport trivialized in this manner was truly heartbreaking. This kind of depiction spoon-fed the anti-dog activists and fostered their urge to take aim on us….and they haven’t let up–to this day.

Fast-forward to the most recent decade, and one can feel a noticeable change in how our sport is covered.  Great strides were made to engage and educate the dog-loving public. Major TV networks now cover Westminster, the much-watched Thanksgiving Day event filmed at the Kennel Club of Philadelphia aka The National Dog Show, and the largest dog show of the year: the AKC National Championship presented by Royal Canin. Augmenting these major events are the dozens of streaming platforms that capture millions of eyeballs via the likes of AKC-TV, which also adds programming on many dog-related events including Agility, Hunt Tests, Fast Cat, Diving dogs…the list is long! We also enjoy online offerings from the likes of this publication which has a huge outreach to the community.

Click here to read the complete article
136 – November/December, 2025

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Posted by AnthonyA on Nov 13 2025. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.