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Reflecting on the roots of dog shows: a call to inspire, reinvest in communities, and preserve the essence of purebred dogs.
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When I think back at the original intention of dog shows, I go back to a wet English countryside with people in long jackets and boots showing their spaniels. A place where the elder statesman of the family brought his dogs with great pride to an exhibition as a way to show others what he had produced. Those gatherings were the initial inception of canine competition as a sport—and those competitions were meant to inspire.
We have all seen those black and white videos of old dog shows and the unfiltered behavior of their animals that is not as polished as we see today. There’s an old style of presentation on display as well as the foundation appearance of many of our breeds. Those recordings provide us with a look at where it all started. Breeders entered their dogs to say, “Let me show you what I have. Let me show you what we’re doing with this breed.” They endeavored to inspire others and they hoped to be inspired in return. And in doing so, a competition was formed, and today, when we are watching a great show dog in the ring, we want to be inspired by the performance. The good ones will inspire you.
We all have experiences in the sport where we remember a certain dog’s performance. We remember Sherman the Mastiff (CH Southports Sherman), billowing gracefully down and back, and take away an understanding of that dog’s ability that others just didn’t have. The same is true of the Komondor that won the Group at The Garden (CH Lojosmegyi Dahu Digal). We saw that fabulous, corded animal putting on the performance of a lifetime, and we know how remarkable it was for him to go down and back with the weight of all those cords and come out with a victory. It was pretty amazing! And I would have to think that Stump (CH Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee) winning Westminster was a pinnacle memory for many at nearly 11 years old as was the Papillon (CH Loteki Supernatural Being). We watched those dogs perform at their best, and that is something to aspire to.
There’s nothing greater to promote purebred dogs than the televised dog show, because it meets people in their homes. And there’s nothing that compares with the Westminster Kennel Club. They’re on their 149th show, getting ready to celebrate 150 years of exhibitions in 2026. It’s a cultural phenomenon and it’s Dog Show Americana 101. People all over the world look to that show and they understand the importance of it within the United States. And we in the sport revere the weight of that show and the reach of that show. It is celebrated on every level, from amateur to expert. It is without question similar to the Olympics. The public is celebratory of certain breeds and they cheer on the Dachshund or the Otterhound or the Irish Terrier as they would any other athlete. Something about a dog will draw them in to the point where they think, “Maybe that’s the dog I need.” It’s the live action that draws a person to a particular breed. So, there in one setting they have access to 230 breeds to see, and hopefully, make a connection with. That is the breeders’ hope!
The only thing better than discovering a breed on television, however, is discovering one in person. I was judging recently and someone came up to me and said, “We were told you have English Toy Spaniels, and we really want one.” Well, I knew a person at the show who happened to have one, but when the husband said that they really wanted something bigger, I was able to refer the couple to another breed which was not on their radar. “The Tibetan Spaniel is a little bit bigger and sturdier,” I shared, inspiring them to investigate that breed as well. When you’re in the sport, you have a repertoire of 200-plus breeds at your disposal to introduce to someone. You don’t have to know the breed specifics, but you can say, “Maybe these breeds will work for you instead.” There are other ways that we can do this too, like suggesting those dog breed selector apps that determine which breed is best.
A part of this revelation to inspire newcomers to the sport of purebred dogs is an awareness that while we’ve worked to keep dog shows going; to keep our events happening, we’ve created isolated pockets of show sites and capitalized on them. And in doing so, we’ve lost community involvement. While popular show sites have benefitted many, many dog clubs, all of the communities represented by those clubs have suffered by their shows’ relocation to a single site. We’ve inadvertently created a wasteland of purebred dog engagement. People don’t have access to the local dog club anymore because they’re now three hours away, putting on a show. Those locales are now devoid of community-specific dog exposure. And although the communal sites may be far better than the average show site, the communities with these consolidated show grounds, over time, take for granted that dog shows are held there. There’s no longer any inspiration for the public to attend—because they can easily go to a show there next week or the week after that.
The development of these centralized facilities has somewhat been influenced by the push for viability and convenience—and profitability. The regionalism of these sites, and the lack of local support, mimic other aspects of the world we’re living in. It’s a rebranding of how we do so many things today. It’s no different than veterinary care where you have an after-hours clinic, but it’s two hours away. Yet if we’re going to continue to support sites that host multiple dog shows, the clubs that use these facilities need to consider ways of giving back to the community in a tangible way.
I’m thinking of a dog show venue that is well used by at least 20 clubs that have their shows there. It’s not a well-kept facility, but people go there routinely. Some of the clubs have quite a bit of money and have the ability to reinvest it. Every one of those clubs could give money towards improving the building they use. Why wouldn’t clubs want to invest in their venue, whether it’s a fairground that needs better lighting in the pole barn or better flooring in the pig barn where the dog shows are held? Why wouldn’t they want to reinvest for their own gain? The clubs could go to the fair board and tell them they want to give the facility new lighting or put air-conditioning in a building. I think this is an opportunity to give back. We’re not doing that anymore—and we should.
We should be giving back to our venues to secure the location, because we want exhibitors and the public to experience something that’s nice. And it can start with a building that needs a coat of paint. If all the shows that use a fairground throughout the year would get together, they could come up with a budget to solve some of the problems with that particular show site. Maybe there’s a sod issue and some of the rings are not level. The clubs that use the site could address that with the money they have, or they could raise money to re-sod some of those areas. In our world today, image is everything. If people go to a beat-up fairground that needs a coat of paint, it doesn’t make dog shows look good. It can even make them look kind of seedy. But if it looks like someplace where people want to go to, that will bring the people in.
This need for making improvements speaks to the infrastructure of our country and the things we all need to do. We have an obligation and a responsibility to participate in doing more, and while our dogs are at a particular site to promote purebred dogs, giving back to the local community is a subsidiary of that. The community benefits by our investment, and that has always been a part of dog shows; to raise money that can go to dog show charities but also towards reinvesting in local communities.
The AKC has been very good at publicizing the amount of money brought into communities that are having a dog show. The convenience of having so many shows at a single facility is a disservice to the many communities in which those shows were once held. The combining of shows at one common site is an economic disservice to the communities that those clubs are intended to serve. The revenue is now all concentrated in the new show area. And some of the clubs that have not relocated their events are cancelling their shows due to show sites they can no longer afford, and a lack of entries as they are out of the centralized area or difficult to get to. Many feel the 200-400 dog shows are not worth the effort because they are isolated and they are equally expensive for little gain. Sadly, these clubs have got to redesign what they do. They need to come up with a new way of doing business to promote purebred dogs locally. Give the exhibitors reason to attend. These clubs have got to come up with something to draw people to come see purebred dogs at their show. It’s a whole lot easier not to find a purebred dog when there’s no more local dog shows.
People want dog shows to come back to their communities. They miss the shows, and we should want to be there to welcome them. We need to ask ourselves how we can give back to our communities and our sport. How can we make the work of breeding and showing dogs meaningful and worthy of being shared? We don’t do what we do as breeders and not share it. We exhibit our dogs and put them on display. That’s what we do, and the obligation of the breeder is to put the dogs on display for people to learn from and experience. And in return, we experience others’ dogs and learn from them. We’re inspired by them. The exchange can lead to life-altering encounters that can change the course of our breeding programs—and our lives.
At year’s end, we tend to get sentimental. We focus on a new resolution and a clean slate for the following year. We challenge ourselves to plot a new course and a fresh path. Let’s be mindful in the coming year of giving back rather than taking from our sport. Let’s work at reimagining what can be rather than what is. Let’s consider possibilities over limits. Challenge our clubs to do good things in the communities we serve. Consider a coalition with other clubs that contributes to making improvements to those communal show sites. Let’s work to make a better impression for the public, to inspire them to come join our sport. We need a return to the original obligation we have as breeders and exhibitors, which is to create, celebrate, and disseminate knowledge of purebred dogs. Let this be our goal for 2025 and always.
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