Not interested in watching the Big Game this Sunday? Want a break from football? Switch the channel to ESPN to enjoy highlights from the AKC National Championship at 8 p.m. ET and highlights from the AKC K9 Detection Dog Challenge at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 13.
Check your local provider for your channel. If you have a cable log-in, you can also watch on the ESPN app or website.
Learn more about the dog events on ESPN this Sunday:
AKC National Championship Dog Show
The 2021 AKC National Championship Presented by Royal Canin was held on Saturday, December 18, and Sunday, December 19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
This event is the only all-breed dog show organized and presented directly by the American Kennel Club, the nation’s oldest and only not-for-profit purebred dog registry. Thousands of dogs from throughout the country and all over the world met in Florida to compete for Best in Show at this year’s event.
AKC K9 Detection Dog Challenge
In the first-ever AKC/USPCA K9 Detection Dog Challenge, 20 police dogs from across the nation showcase the important role dogs play in keeping our country safe.
Ten teams of United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) narcotics dogs and 10 teams of USPCA explosives dogs will be in attendance, with breeds ranging from the Belgian Malinois to German Shorthaired Pointer to Weimaraner. The dogs compete against one another to each find their illegal substance the quickest.
Teams navigate obstacles and sort through distractions to find the hidden items. They are scored on the accuracy of their search, the perfection of their alert (telling the handler where the hide is), and the find itself (a combination of the ability of the dog and the handler to accurately tell judges where the hide is located).
How Dogs Detect
If you own a dog, you know that canines have an amazing sense of smell. In fact, they have 225 million scent receptors in their noses (compared to a human’s 5 million). Luckily, we have learned to use this to our advantage and harness dogs’ talents to fight crime. Detection dogs can be taught to detect many different drugs, explosives, accelerants, and even bodies.
You’ve probably seen a detection dog at the airport or at large events. Many years of training go into quality police dogs.
Popular police dog breeds include the Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd Dogs, Bloodhounds, Dutch Shepherds, and Labrador Retrievers.
Learn more about the different ways dogs assist police, and how you can unleash your own dog’s sense of smell.
Enjoy highlights from the AKC National Championship on Sunday, February 13 at 8 pm ET and highlights from the AKC K9 Detection Dog Challenge at 9 pm ET on ESPN.