Mix a high-drive Labrador with an active 8-year-old boy, and you cook up a mother looking for an outlet. Lucia Pink found it when her eyes landed on a newspaper advertisement for a Kids and Dogs Day Camp at the Imperial Polk Obedience Club. The camp ran for a week and Lucia thought it would […]

Luce Carter BN RE FDC ACT1 SWN SINE SENE SBNE SEA CGCA TKE FITB owned by Jennifer Carter of Louisa, VA Luce, a 9 ½ year old hound/herding dog mix, was 12 weeks old when she was adopted by Jennifer. “Her journey is one of resilience and determination,” Jennifer said. “Luce is the kind of […]

At 7 months old, Weimaraner “Gauge,” a Weimaraner, launched herself off the front of a pontoon boat into the water below. She jumped without hesitation, much to the delight of her owners, Anna and Chris Brown. “My husband always wanted a dog so he could jump off the boat and have the dog follow, and she did,” Anna says.   It wasn’t long before they started taking Gauge to dock diving events in […]

Most dogs enjoy training, but dogs also might like one sport over another. So how do you tell if your dog likes the sport?

Many three-legged dogs can live fit and active lives despite missing a limb. A growing number of tripods are even competing in a variety of dog sports.

Sue Kotlarek of Romulus, MI, trains her two rescue mixed-breed dogs, Rodger and Jasmine, in numerous sports and competes successfully in all of them. Rodger is the first All-American Dog to earn the AKC Versatile Companion Dog title. His formal name is: Rodger Rowbinawitz VCD2 UD RAE AXP AJP NF NFP CA FDCH. Sue shared […]

Bonding with your canine companion, meeting new people, keeping your dog physically and mentally active, and good, pure fun—just some of the reasons people participate in AKC dog sports. For people with disabilities, these benefits may seem inaccessible. AKC dog sports can be and are enjoyed by individuals with disabilities. Today, people of varying physical ability […]

Imagine this: You’re hiking up a mountain with your dog. You get halfway back down, and your dog just stops. He’s too tired to continue. What do you do? Or, how about another situation: You live in the city and want to take the subway with your dog. Your dog is too big and too […]

For Valerie Schuter, doing a good deed for a dog turned into her downsizing Pinschers. The 30-year Doberman Pinscher breeder and rescue volunteer helped another breeder and ended up transitioning to the smaller German Pinschers—notably Bentley—GCH Diamond Bay A Chevelle Bentley Tribute. This conformation Grand Champion has a passion for people and racked up 13 […]

Since acquiring their first Labrador Retriever over 20 years ago, Brenda and Ken Neil, AKC's 2019 Breeders of the Year for Retriever Field Events, have been among the breed's biggest champions. While that first Lab's life was sadly cut short, the Neils are a long way from heartbreak now. Today, they invite as many black Labrador […]

Imagine stepping into the ring but not being able to see the dog at the end of your leash. This is what dog shows are like for Lexie Lanier.

Jennie LaPrade's three AKC FIT DOG Canaan Dogs, Argos, Jessie, and Kuma love their daily walks. Now they're taking on other dog sports.

"Drive," the 3-year-old Australian Shepherd, isn't just a dog athlete, he's also a seizure alert dog for "Torch," a dog with idiopathic epilepsy.

Contrary to the old saying, you absolutely can teach an old dog new tricks, and you absolutely should. Get your adult dog involved in dog sports.

The 2019 AKC National Rally Championship takes place March 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you can't attend, tune in to the live stream by going to AKC.tv on any device or download the AKC.TV app on Roku, Apple TV, or AmazonFireTV. Rally has taken on an entirely new meaning in recent months for the Cruise family of Blountsville, Alabama […]

Watch as 27-year-old Daniela Flores communicates with her deaf dog by waving her hands and giving signals. Holly, an Australian Shepherd, is completely deaf and blind in one eye. Trust— this one word perfectly describes Daniela Flores and Holly, a 9-year-old Australian Shepherd, when they enter the Rally ring. Holly isn't like most Australian Shepherds. She […]

Sela Cooper, a 16-year-old from Tennessee, has accomplished big things with her Vizsla, Jersey (Mesa's Little Jersey BN RI NAJ BCAT ACT1 ACT1J DJ DN DDS DDBE CGCA TKE VHMA). Cooper got started competing in dog sports in 2019 with Fast CAT and she and Jersey were instantly hooked. The two now also compete in […]

Angel Warren already had two rescue dogs when she got started in her local 4-H dog program at age nine: Durango, a Miniature American Shepherd, and Aspen, a Border Collie mix. "It was my first introduction to dogdom and I was immediately intrigued," Angel remembers. This intrigue is what led Angel to get her first […]

Taxi and Amanda Haldeman may be competing in the 2023 AKC Diving Dogs Challenge, but he got a later start to the sport at age four.

The Washington Puget Sound area's Grief Support Dogs is a place where widowed people can talk about their experiences as widowed people. But dog sports brought them together.

Kreg Hill competes with two Australian Terriers in multiple dog sports.

"Going to the dogs" has a whole new meaning for Karen Scheiner, who practiced law for three decades but fell in love with dog sports along the way.

Meet Hungary’s russet-coated dog-of-all-trades: the Vizsla. While talking with the breed’s American fanciers, it seems the exclamation point and the Vizsla were made for each other. If this breed could talk (one of the few things it can’t do—yet) it would say things like “Yes I can!,” “Go for it!” and other such interjections that […]

The Irish Water Spaniel was one of the nine original breeds recognized by the AKC. Learn more about this versatile, water-loving breed's history.

Give GWPs A Chance A few years ago, Ariel Wolf had hardly even heard of the German Wirehaired Pointer. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina, native was born with a rare connective tissue disorder, resulting in issues with her joints, tendons, and ligaments. Wolf had benefitted from service dogs in the past, and she was seeking a new dog […]

The American Kennel Club (AKC®), the world's largest purebred dog registry and a leading advocate for dogs, wishes to acknowledge those individuals who have excelled at breeding dogs that have proven to be outstanding in AKC sports over an extended period. The commitment to preserve, protect, and improve a breed represents the very essence of […]

The American Kennel Club, the leading advocate for dogs, wishes to acknowledge those individuals that have excelled at breeding dogs that have proven to be outstanding in AKC sports.  The commitment to preserve, protect and improve a breed represents the very essence of the AKC.  The AKC Breeder of the Year by Sport Award is […]

The Merrimac Dog Training Club hosts an annual Canine Kids Camp, where children with disabilities take part in fun dog competitions. Each child takes one of the member’s dogs, who are all trained performance and/or therapy dogs, through a small agility course, a small AKC Rally® course and a therapy dog training session. One 10-year-old […]

The American Kennel Club® (AKC), the leading advocate for dogs, is delighted to acknowledge those individuals that have excelled at breeding dogs that have proven to be outstanding in AKC sports. The commitment to preserve, protect, and improve a breed represents the very essence of the AKC. The AKC Breeder of the Year by Sport […]

The American Kennel Club (AKC®) wishes to acknowledge those individuals that have excelled at breeding dogs that have proven to be outstanding in AKC sports.  The commitment to preserve, protect and improve a breed represents the very essence of the AKC.   The AKC Breeder of the Year by Sport Award is given to those who […]