Finding a quality Golden Retriever puppy can be a daunting task. Experienced Golden owners will agree on the two most important elements in searching for a pup: a reputable breeder, and a quality pedigree. Good breeders understand the importance of pedigree. They select their breeding stock using dogs with parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who […]

Bringing home a Newfoundland puppy is unlike raising any other puppy. Not only are they physically huge as puppies—which means giant-size fun and big messes—these large pups also take significantly longer to physically and mentally mature than smaller breeds. This means particular training considerations, both when your puppy first comes home, and for the first […]

While a toy puppy may increase its birth weight by a factor of 10 to 20, a giant-breed puppy may grow to be 100 times bigger than when he was born. Consider this: A newborn Chihuahua may weigh only three ounces at birth and three pounds at maturity. A newborn Great Dane, however, may weigh […]

Congratulations! You’ve taken the plunge and joined the exciting and sometimes chaotic world of dog ownership. By now, you’ve probably done some research and have an understanding of how to care for your new puppy. Your house is going to be the place where your dog spends the majority of their life, so it’s vitally […]

What is your name? Autumn Maine How old are you? 13 years old. What state do you live in? Virginia What breed(s) do you compete with? Boston Terrier. Labrador Retriever. I have also worked with many breeds as a volunteer. What sport(s) do you compete in with your dog(s)? Conformation, CAT, Fast CAT, Obedience and […]

This is part of a series of profiles on the All American Dogs entered in the 2019 AKC Obedience Classic. There will be competition at every level of obedience: Novice, Open, Utility and Masters for dogs that qualified for the event. The annual event takes place Dec. 14-15 in Orlando, FL, in conjunction with the […]

With AKC Canine Partners from the Beginning: Teah OA OAJ OF THD and California’s Little Orphan Annie NA NAJ NF owned by Deborah Hoeflich of Morro Bay, CA Debby’s dog, Teah, has been part of the AKC Canine Partners program since it started 10 years ago. Before Canine Partners, “Teah was competing (in another venue), […]

Fighting Canine Cancer in Memory of Deuce  Amber Koerner received the 2022 AKC Canine Health Foundation’s Inspiration Award for her work to raise funds for canine cancer research. The Wisconsin resident organizes an annual walkathon in memory of her dog, Deuce, who she lost suddenly to cancer at age 7. She shares their story with […]

Gregor Mendel, father of modern genetics, was a meticulous record keeper. “It was there that he grew 28,000 pea plants during the period from 1856 to 1863. He kept careful records of his crossbreeding experiments and recorded each individual plant’s height, pod shape, flower location and color, and seed shape and color.” The Patriotic Puppy Program opened […]

We discussed this before here- https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/training-science/behavioral-circuits-motor-patterns/ However, now that everyone is spending a good amount of time with your dogs on environmentally stability, we should revisit what we are trying to do. The goal is that the pup will negotiate an object “because it is there.” A dog that only negotiates the object with cues, […]