In Their Own Words

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136 – February, 2026

By Amy Fernandez

All win photos by Vicki Holloway ©AKC

 As expected, the 2025 AKC National Championship was incredible with 5,557 dogs in regular competition, including 1,602 puppies and 1,040 BBE competitors. After 25 years, skepticism has transformed into awestruck reports of record setting entries.

This entry of 9,162 is undeniably impressive, but it doesn’t imply that American shows are doing fine. They’re not. A few major events, like this one, are exceptions. What it does signal is the continuing depth of quality of our purebreds. Big entries are not invariably competitive entries, but the AKC National Championship is both. When the ring is packed with top quality competition, and a global audience is second-guessing every decision, a judge’s reasoning carries tremendous impact.

Multiple factors have steadily undermined participation at shows, but distrust of judges invariably ranks high on that list. Conformation judging is a combination of subjective and objective decisions. Therefore, it’s crucial for participants and spectators to understand the reasoning underlying those choices. Treating it like the Shadow Docket will never restore faith in the process.

So, let’s get down to restoring some faith.

Click here to read the complete article
136 – February, 2026

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Posted by AnthonyA on Feb 2 2026. 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.