Giving it all you got at the Annual All-Breed Dog Show

Dogs and their owners or handlers are looking to walk away with some hardware to stock their shelves as they battle for the title of "Best in Show" and other categories at the 73rd Annual Duluth All-Breed Dog Show on July 14th, 2022, through Sunday, July 17th, at the DECC. This event will feature over 150 breeds of dogs.

When entering a dog into a dog show, there is one important rule that you should know. "First, you start with a pure breed dog, and that is a dog that is registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC). The parents have been registered and concerned pure breeds,” says Carolyn Lichty, President of Duluth Kennel Club (DKC) and Show chairman. The director shared with that a puppy must be six months old to compete for points towards their show career.

People compete in dog shows for many different reasons, and professional dog handler and dog trainer, Cartrell Cooper explains.

"When you look at the dog show world, how it originally started, it was more individuals getting together for dogs within their standard for breeding programs, looking for dogs that they wanted to use for breeding stock. Now, the dog show world is more of a sport where you have the best of best getting together; where you have the best of one breed going to see if they can get best in the show."

Owners and handlers at the Duluth show are looking to collect the wins in their groups and qualify for bigger and national dog shows.

"To get dogs to win points because the win points, you have your breed points or whatever number that is given to the breed that you defeat that day, goes as documentation, you can find that paperwork in The Canine Chronicle, a magazine that tracks the dogs win points. A dog is looking to be number one in their breed and number one in their group, so they get the asterisk to invite to Westminster and acknowledge when going to a larger show."

Attending shows like in Duluth can help add to the win column. "Builds those numbers! You have a show in the United States just about every weekend, and handlers will go to a show that oftentimes has judges that are good for them, or they’re going to an available show. No matter where they go, even if it’s a single entry, they want that breed win, or those class wins; because those numbers are going to be what they need for the future."