This past month I was fortunate enough to attend a great group of all breed shows hosted by Terry-All Kennel Club as well as the The Labrador Retriever Club of the Potomac. This show is the largest single-breed specialty in the world. It runs for nearly a week with over 1,000 Labradors competing for top prizes.
The American Kennel Club (AKC®), the world’s largest purebred dog registry and advocate for all dogs, is pleased to announce the opening of submissions for the 2022 AKC My Canine & Me.
There has been some minor debate on when the first dog show occurred, but it is widely accepted that the first organized and documented dog show was held in England in 1859. It was an added affair to the annual livestock show in Newcastle. That first show was a sporting breed event with only setters and pointers being entered. In retrospect, it was a small beginning to what would become, by the end of the century, a very popular English pastime.
This sport is often compared to a big family. Yes, occasionally those sentiments are not so warmhearted, but dog shows have always been our comfort zone. Regardless of the time or place, we instantly understand the dynamics in play as well as recognizing half the people in the crowd. And that part of the deal never changes. Five years, ten years later anyone can walk into a show and instantly feel at home. The recent four-day cluster at Edison, New Jersey proved that beyond a doubt. Although these shows have been off the map for two years, they remain a beloved part of the show season here in the Northeast for a few reasons.
Did you guess the identity of the young dog show Handler in our last #ThrowbackThursday photo?
Did you ever notice how easily judges, exhibitors, and breeders get used to changes within a breed?
Through the Purple Leash Project, Purina and the nonprofit RedRover aim to make 25 percent of domestic violence shelters pet-friendly by 2025
Nobody can stage events like the British. Coronations, funerals, weddings, parades, you name it. Yeah, they’ve had centuries of practice but still, somehow they always manage that almost impossible blend of rigid formality and total weirdness. That brings me to Crufts 2022.
A mine-sniffing dog credited with detecting more than 200 explosives since the start of the war in Ukraine has been given a medal for his services to the country.
