By Tom Grabe

The four-plus day show cluster has become the staple of today’s dog show scene in the United States. A quick glance at our events calendar at www.caninechronicle.com shows how clusters of shows held in one location has become a normal, weekly occurrence in most regions. Heck, we even have a button titled “Cluster View” on our events calendar that groups the shows by cluster each weekend.

There are individual locations around the country that host more than 50 dog shows per year. A bit of investigation shows that many shows are held far from their geographic area. At the risk of sounding like an oldster clamoring for the way things were, I think that clusters are affecting participation in our sport in a very negative way.

I recall things being quite different when I was a professional handler in the ‘80s & ‘90s. We had our share of circuits. The difference is you relocated every couple of days at most of them, hence a circuit NOT a cluster. The Florida Circuit was a travelers dream–or nightmare–with the circuit beginning in Jekyll Island, Georgia and finishing in Tampa. Many other circuits across the country mirrored this routine. Most shows were held at fairgrounds with minimal facilities or small convention-type buildings. We all survived. It proved that we didn’t need a huge convention center in which to show our dogs. The important thing was we exposed purebred dogs to the territory in which the host kennel club resided and controlled.

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10 – July, 2026

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10 – July, 2026

By Amy Fernandez

Mastiff breeds have experienced a dramatic resurgence in recent years. AKC currently recognizes the Mastiff, Bullmastiff, the Tibetan Mastiff, the Neapolitan Mastiff, the Cane Corso (Italian Mastiff), the Dogue de Bordeaux (French Mastiff), and the Dogo Argentino (Argentinian Mastiff). Additionally, many more of these breeds are currently accepted by FCI. After decades of obscurity, they are ascending. This is due in part to AKC’s belated willingness to recognize new breeds, a process that was stalled in neutral for decades. As a result, more people have discovered them. In addition to that, research-based dietary protocols have replaced longstanding myths about large breed nutrition. An equally significant factor in their improved overall health has been the introduction of health testing. Hip dysplasia screening was just the start of the current menu of certifications for breeding stock. And last, but certainly not least, is the recognition of behavioral assessment and temperament testing for potential breeding stock­–along with the acknowledgment that these are not breeds for beginners.

On the other hand, all this progress has not diminished the avalanche of disinformation and misinformation regarding the origin and history of Mastiff breeds. Unfortunately, that is still going strong, and it has fueled a lot of bad breeding and fad breeding. In part, this problem can be traced to the fact that Mastiff type has always been one of those perfect ingredients for the development of breeds. The Mastiff has played a role in so many breeds. In other words, it’s a complicated story.

James Watson, that cynical Scotsman, put it like this: “More has been written about the Mastiff than almost any other breed of dogs and we are sorry to add more misinformation. Even up to the time of penning this chapter, the work of distributing erroneous statements and perfectly indefensible conclusions goes on in England.” Watson was a rigorous historian. In his1906 book, he attempted to sort the verifiable truth from 500+ years of fiction and nonsense.

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276 – June, 2026

By Lisa Dubé Forman

I wish I had told this story sooner, but sometimes the most vital news arrives right when we need it most. As the climate shifts, a dangerous new syndrome is rewriting the rules for everyone who loves dogs, the outdoors, and our sport.

A decade ago, Scott Curatolo-Wagemann, a marine biologist on Long Island, knew of only one person with a tick-borne illness called alpha-gal syndrome. Today, it has spread to his sister, her best friend, a baseball teammate’s mother, his own phlebotomist—and to Curatolo-Wagemann himself. “This small tick bite has affected me more than a shark bite or cancer,” he told The New York Times. He survived both.

For those of us in the purebred dog community—hunters, field trialers, show exhibitors, breeders, and pet owners—ticks are nothing new. We pull them off our dogs after every walk and every hunt. But now the threat has evolved in ways we cannot ignore. A potentially deadly tick-borne disease is spreading rapidly across the United States, and the same climate forces driving its expansion are accelerating the spread of other parasites and viruses. What was once considered a nuisance is becoming a serious public health concern with direct implications for anyone who spends time outdoors or with a dog.

What is alpha-gal syndrome? Unlike most tick-borne diseases, this is not an infection—it is an allergy, and the trigger is red meat.

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270 – June, 2026

 By Nikki Riggsbee

Heinrich Essig, a businessman and politician, developed the Leonberger in his home town of Leonberg, Germany, in the 19th century. It was developed primarily to be a companion and to resemble the image of a lion on the town’s crest. Essig claimed that different colored St. Bernards and a Pyrenean Mountain Dog were used to develop the Leonberger. Later, Essig’s nephew bred Leonbergers that were of tawny colors with black masks that are seen in the modern breed.

World War I nearly caused the extinction of the Leonberger in Germany. After the war, five individuals were used to revive the breed. Some reduced breeding continued during World War II. After that war, the German Leonberger club was formed, and a breed standard was written.

There was a record of Leonbergers in the United States after World War I, but none survived the depression. The breed arrived again from Germany in 1975-1985. In 2003, they began registration in AKC’s Foundation Stock Services, and started participation in Miscellaneous in 2008. In 2010, they joined the Working group with full recognition.

Thirty-one Leonberger experts were invited to take a survey on their priorities when evaluating the breed for conformation. Sixteen agreed to participate; one declined. Fourteen completed surveys were received. Those who contributed average more than thirty-one years in the breed. Ten of those are judges have been approved to do so for more than fourteen years on average. Several have judged the Leonberger national specialty and other breed specialties.

Leonberger Virtues

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258 – June, 2026

 By Jessica Braatz

Photos by Lisa Croft-Elliott

Ms. Judy A. Harrington

Monson, Massachusetts

Great Danes

It was such a pleasure to have a lovely, large entry of Great Danes, my foundation breed. My Best Of Breed dog, GCHP2 Eb The Relentless Pursuit Of Perfection, was a fawn dog that, in profile, fills your eye with correct square proportion and balance. Viewing him, your eye never goes to just one point of conformation; you see the whole picture of a Great Dane. He possessed the substance of body with a lovely neck into shoulders and a solid topline that remained firm–standing and moving. His head proportions were correct, and his mask was a lower mask, and equally as correct as a higher mask that tends to be more glamorous. All of this, combined with sound movement coming, going, and around, resulted in an impressive representative of the Great Dane.

Portuguese Water Dogs

My Best Of Breed dog in Portuguese Water Dogs, GCHP Odysea It’s Always Sonny At Surfari, was as impressive hands-on as visually when observing the lineup. He had substantial bone that was a pleasure to feel and correct rib spring with a solid topline under a proper coat. His head had the breadth of topskull and muzzle fill with perfect pigment and lovely ear set and size that the standard calls for. On the move, he completed the picture of a dog that is clearly capable of completing the task of his breed’s purpose. The PWD is well-represented with this dog. To see both of these Best Of Breed winners in the final cut in the Working Group was a pleasure.

Mrs. Faye Strauss

Kent, Washington

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254 – June, 2026

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248 – June, 2026

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106 – June, 2026

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By Caroline Coile

Last month, AKC announced that Silken Windhounds was one of three new breeds admitted into their FSS. Unlike many of the newer AKC admissions, Silkens are neither newly created nor low-entry bound. Nor are they a breed with ancient origins. For some, their admission into the AKC is a celebratory occasion they often doubted would ever come. For others, it remains blasphemy.

To understand why, you have to go back to the 1970s and ‘80s, when Whippet fancier Walter Wheeler debuted what he considered a long-lost longhaired variant of the breed. To say that his unveiling was met with animosity, if not outright accusations of crossbreeding, would be a generous understatement.

There was no internet then, no Facebook. Instead, the various sighthound magazines, The Sighthound and The Gazehound, were host to pages and pages of some of the most vehement and venomous letters ever printed therein, mostly against these apparent aberrations. And at the eye of the storm was Wheeler, who even had the audacity to publish ads with the “Longhaired Whippets.”

Walter Wheeler bred several breeds of dogs, including Shelties, before settling on Whippets in 1958. His “Windsprite” Whippets weren’t huge winners, but they were competitive, finishing several champions.

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226 – June, 2026