AKC S.T.A.R. Puppies Shine at IKC

The International Kennel Club of Chicago shows were the place to be to witness 20 proud pups and their owners receive the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy™ award. Graduates who had completed the required 6 weeks of training classes and passed the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy test were awarded the coveted gold Olympics style S.T.A.R. Puppy medal at the show.

Thanks to Louis Auslander and Sue Olsen of IKC who invited us to do the national media roll-out of AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy at their fabulous show, the S.T.A.R puppies really were stars at IKC. There was a professional photo shoot and coverage of AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy on NBC Channel 5.

"We were delighted with the variety of breeds that participated in the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy award ceremony," said Noreen Baxter, Vice President of Communications. "From Min Pins to Mastiffs, the puppies at IKC showed that AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is a program for every dog."

In honor of the AKC’s 125th anniversary, among the 20 puppies honored was the 125th S.T.A.R. recipient, a Labrador Retriever named "Bode" who is owned by Bob Danon of Chicago. The Labrador is currently the most popular dog breed in Chicago according to AKC Registration Statistics. Other Chicago Labrador Retriever S.T.A.R. puppies honored at the show were "Doce," owned by David Cabreira and "Finn," owned by Daniela Weiner.

Local expert puppy trainers Wendy DeCarlo and Dennis Damon of the Dog Obedience Group trained the Labrador Retriever owners and pups on the S.T.A.R. skills and were present to see them receive their medals. "This is a great program," said DeCarlo. "Nearly all of our S.T.A.R. Puppy grads have decided to continue training and to pursue the Canine Good Citizen award as the next step."

Dr. Mary Burch, AKC CGC and STAR Director, commented on the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppies. "This was a fabulous weekend. I think the most gratifying part for me was seeing how the puppies behaved as a result of their training. There is a myth in the conformation world that you can’t teach a conformation dog to sit because it will sit in the ring. Every single one of the S.T.A.R. pups had learned to sit on command. The owners set them up for the photos, said, "Stay," and walked away. Every single one of them sat perfectly. I wanted to jump up and down and cheer. But wait, there’s more...all through the day, the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy owners would come up to the booth and show us the blue ribbons their dogs had won in conformation. They were winning their classes–it was just wonderful!"