Mr. David L. Frei

As co-host of NBC’s National Dog Show Presented by Purina since its inception in 2002, David FREI is seen every Thanksgiving Day by the largest TV audience for any dog show – some 25 million viewers once again in 2025. It is the same role that he perfected in 27 years as the longtime (1990-2016) co-host of USA Network’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

David has been a breeder-owner-handler-judge in purebred dogs for more than 40 years with his Afghan Hounds, Brittanys, and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. One of his homebred Afghans, Ch. Stormhill’s Who’s Zoomin’ Who, retired in 1990 as the top-winning Afghan Hound bitch in history with 20 all-breed Bests in Show.

David is licensed to judge his three breeds and has officiated in the US, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and China. He is a past president of the Afghan Hound Club of America, a member of the executive committee and board of directors of the Morris & Essex Kennel Club, on the board of the Kennel Club of Philadelphia, and a member of the Seattle Kennel Club. He is a past board member for Take The Lead and Morris Animal Foundation.

But his true passion comes from the work that he and his dogs have been doing over the past 25 years as therapy dog teams in New York at the Ronald McDonald House, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the VA Medical Center (visiting David’s fellow veterans). He now brings his Cavalier, True Dat, for weekly visits in Seattle at the VA Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House.

In 2004, he became founder and president of Angel On A Leash, a therapy dog charity. David’s second award-winning book, Angel On A Leash (named after the charity), is his view of his world of therapy dogs and his life in dogs.

In 2015, Dog Fancy magazine, in its final issue, included him in a retrospective, “45 People Who Changed the Dog World.” Also in 2015, he was honored as the first winner of Purina’s Better with Pets Award. In 2018, David was named to the prestigious Dog Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame.

He served as director of media relations for Westminster from 2003 to 2015, during which time he was recognized with awards from the DWAA, the World Dog Press Association, and the Association of Purebred Dog Writers.