
Only in Orlando
Orlando in mid-December hosts the nation’s longest week of shows, stretching over six consecutive days. It also has the biggest entries by far of any show in the Western Hemisphere.
This was the 24th annual AKC show, held on the last two days of the week, Saturday and Sunday, December 14 and 15, 2024. The AKC National Championship was started by Ron Menaker as an invitational show limited to the top-winning dogs. It was an immediate hit and soon became an open show where any and all dogs could enter, including large numbers of foreign dogs competing.
The entry continues to grow each year, including the all-breed shows preceding it. The Tuesday show, the Space Coast Kennel Club of Palm Bay, had 4,788 entries. Wednesday’s Brevard Kennel Club had 5,075, and Thursday’s Central Florida Kennel Club, 5,170. The limit for the pre-shows is 5,000 dogs, and this year roughly 500 were turned away. The pre-shows had 60 different judges, while the AKC show on Saturday and Sunday had 40.
The day with the most dogs being shown was Friday, with total entries of around 8,000 when all the different competitions were taken into account. The pre-shows had 14 foreign judges from every corner of the world. These are many of the most respected judges in the sport today.
What makes the week so extra special is the large number of foreign dogs competing. As a judge it is so exciting to see great dogs we have never seen before, and they usually are in the classes. In 2023, I judged Boxers at the AKC show, and a class dog from Brazil that was a year and two days old won the breed. He went on to win the national and is now winning big time here. My breed winner in 15 inch Beagles was from Chile, and it was only her second time in the ring.
Nobody knows the exact number of foreign dogs entered in Orlando, because some use an American address. But we know hundreds and hundreds of foreign dogs are competing, especially in breeds like Bichons and Poms. This year I judged all six days, which made for a total of 631 dogs plus the Terrier Group and the Non-Sporting Owner-Handled Group. Every breed I judged had really good depth of quality, even in some breeds with smaller entries. The only drawback to judging all six days was I did not get to see many breeds I would have enjoyed watching. Normally if I am only judging at the AKC show, I get to Orlando on Tuesday so I can see many breeds every day before the weekend arrives.
Westminster and the AKC show are the country’s two most prestigious annual shows, but are so totally different in their own unique ways. I believe most judges would say that the honor of judging at Westminster is the highlight of their judging career. The one difference between judging the “Garden” and Orlando is that at Westminster the overall entry is made up of big-winning dogs that have been seen before, and the entry is limited to champions only. In Orlando, having class dogs makes for many dogs we have never seen before. And in many breeds there are a lot more class animals than specials. For example, in Golden Retrievers, the breakdown was 36-66 (28-20) — twice as many class animals as specials. Labradors had 22-30 (18-10). This is the case in so many breeds.
What makes the Orlando weekend so exciting for everyone is the top quality of the dogs. I really think the depth of quality in all the groups is the best we see anywhere in the world. This includes Crufts and the World Shows. It is suggested to the judges to limit their cuts in the groups to eight. Some judges do pull a few more. The day I judged the Terrier Group I did not make a cut. I had at least 20 that I felt were superior quality and could win groups anywhere. With all the groups being exceptionally strong, it does make for the judges taking longer than they do at the average show. The expressions on the faces of so many judges made the difficulty of their decisions obvious. In several breeds, I had some very hard decisions to make.
The competition can at times be even stronger than at Westminster. In 2023, Kaz and “Sage,” who went Best in Show last year at the Garden, were not entered at Westminster. Sage did not get an invitation since she was not in the top five on the breed system, though she was one of the top dogs in the all-breed system. We have to realize that in certain areas the breed entries can be very small. Ideally, Westminster should eventually come up with a top five in both systems getting an invitation. The lottery system makes it difficult to be assured getting entered at the Garden. Each year Westminster has to turn back a lot of dogs.
The hardest part about Orlando is all the walking. Just getting out of the Hyatt to the building is more than a mile. Then when you enter the venue it is an extremely long walk to some of the rings at the far end. The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando is the second-largest convention center in the United States. It actually is small compared to many of the convention centers in Europe where the different World Dog shows are held. Asia also has some enormous venues.
One of the things that makes the AKC show so unique is the Bred-by competition. The dogs do not have to be entered in the Bred-by class, but they cannot compete if they are champions. The only other show that does this is the Terrier show, Montgomery County. I wish more clubs would feature the Bred-by competition. At the Santa Barbara Kennel Club there is a Breeders Showcase, starting at the group level. Each entry comprises two dogs having a common breeder or co-breeder. The groups and Best in Show for the Bred-by competition are always extremely strong.
Beth Sweigart had the honor of judging Best Bred-by in Orlando. Her winner was Elyades Betancourt with the Great Dane GCh. EB The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection. He only needs a couple more Bests to be the top-winning Dane in history.
The Puppy Sweepstakes is another unique competition. It goes up to 18 months, and the competition is extremely strong. Some past winners have gone on to be huge winners. This year it was won by a young male Peke. His owner-handler Kay Canaan is also his breeder. I had the pleasure of awarding him Best of Winners at the AKC show. It is interesting that Best Puppy is judged by three judges. The Best in Show judge for the AKC National Championship show is also one of the judges for this competition.
To stage an event of this size requires so much planning by an army of planners. The judges are hired several years in advance in order to avoid conflicts, and there is a three-month moratorium. My BIS assignment had to be pushed back by a year when Morris & Essex, where I was also judging Best, was postponed until 2021 due to Covid. Each year more and more breeds are wanting to hold specialties.
Besides all the specialties, Friday also has the Working Group show and a Terrier Group show. This year for various reasons, many judges had to cancel at the last minute. This meant quickly scrambling for replacements. As always, there were a couple of overloads.
It is interesting that most shows continue to go down in entries. Some shows that once had 3,500 to 4,000 dogs today are only getting 1,000 to 1,500. The Orlando week is the exception in that it gets larger each year.
Other than Orlando, the biggest show in the Western Hemisphere is the legendary Morris & Essex. They limit the entry to roughly 4,500 dogs in order to keep it just under the size of the “Glory Days” of Mrs. Dodge. It is interesting that Mrs. Dodge did not offer classes for all breeds. The show now is only held every five years during the Montgomery County weekend. That weekend does not have many shows throughout the country. Originally, M&E was held the Thursday before Memorial Day.
Over the Orlando week there is only one other set of shows being conducted, in Pennsylvania. There used to be several other huge clusters held that weekend. When their entries greatly diminished, they found other dates. We have to realize the great effort it takes for the owners and handlers to get all these dogs to Orlando. With it getting more and more difficult to fly dogs, many are driven from the West Coast, which can be a long three-day drive. A fair number of dogs are also driven from Mexico. It is a long flight from all the Asian countries. Brazil, Argentina and Chile also require very long flights. The Orlando airport makes it quite accessible to fly into, and Tampa can be another option. Some people also fly into Atlanta and Miami. For the judges, it is quite easy to fly into the nearby Orlando Airport, which is only 15 to 20 minutes from the venue. Many foreign visitors and some Americans take some extra time to sightsee at Disney and the other Orlando venues.
Many dogs start their campaigns in Orlando. Some get retired at this show if they are not going to Westminster. There were several dogs that won big in Orlando that are just starting their campaigns. Just the breeds I judged over the six days had some dogs I had never judged or even seen that I believe will go on to be big winners.
Because of my great passion for Labrador Retrievers, getting to judge them on Thursday was the highlight of Orlando for me. My Winners Dog was from Mexico, but bred in California. He was Winners Dog four days. My Reserve Winners Dog was a young dog from Mexico, too, and was RWD all five days. My Winners Bitch and Reserve Winners Bitch were of exceptional quality; the latter won the Puppy Sweeps Sporting Group this year.
I had to be very severe with the cut for Best of Breed. All the top-winning Labs were present. I kept four males and two bitches. My breed winner had just won a Sporting Group under me over nearly all the top Sporting dogs in the country. My Select Dog recently won a Best in Show under me and several Sporting groups. Best of Opposite was my breed and Sporting Group winner last year in the Puppy Sweeps. She recently has won several big specialties. There was also another male that has done a lot of big winning. There was a male who made it to the final cut with an owner-handler I did not recognize; he is a dog I could award the group to at a lot of shows. Labs are a very international breed, and there are outstanding ones throughout the world. When you look at a three-generation pedigree, many different countries are represented.
Without the sponsorship of Royal Canin, Orlando would not be possible. The huge number of performance events are under the umbrella of Eukanuba, the sister company; it also takes four or five days to judge them. Our AKC president Dennis Sprung is the show’s chairman. Jason Taylor of Royal Canin is assistant chair. The events coordinator is Michael Canalizo, who is assisted by Joseph Carlini. They have a huge committee to pull it all together. Gina DiNardo is one of the main people who coordinates so many details. Paula Spector does all the hotel reservations plus the judges’ dinner and luncheons. This takes months of planning details.
Linda Rowell is the main coordinator for the first three days of shows, which have a total of roughly 15,000 dogs competing — no easy feat. Linda does have a large, hard-working committee.
The main ring is called the Ron Menaker Arena. Ron would be so proud that his vision and dream have turned out to be such a monumental show.