The National Dog Show is staged in Oaks, Pennsylvania, this weekend for its 24th year, bringing 2,000 dogs to a single venue and reaching an audience of roughly 25 million on Thanksgiving Day. National Dog Show 2025: Belgian Sheepdog Soleil Wins Best in Show

The event’s televised identity was shaped after the 2000 mockumentary Best in Show, and the show’s rise from a regional event to a national Thanksgiving fixture reflects both media attention and sustained public interest. The Philadelphia Kennel Club renamed its event the National Dog Show as part of that evolution, and NBC broadcasts have turned the weekend into a viewing tradition. Since the release of *Best in Show*, the American Kennel Club (AKC) has steadily added new dog breeds; by 2024 the AKC recognized 205 breeds, up from around 150 at the start of the 2000s, reflecting growing diversity and changing public preferences.

The program carries familiar faces and stories. David Frei, the show’s long-time announcer, highlighted the growth in viewership: “That first year we had 9 million people watch our show. Now we’ve grown over the years. We have 25 million people watching our show every Thanksgiving Day,” he said. This consistent audience growth underscores the event’s expanding appeal across generations.

Organizers stage the National Dog Show as the only single-venue benched dog show in the country, a format in which dogs remain on-site all day and occupy grooming areas arranged by breed. That arrangement allows visitors to move among crates and grooming tables: audience members can visit the dogs and their owners at their leisure, creating regular personal interactions between handlers and the public. Preparation is key for competitive dog owners, who are encouraged to ensure their dogs meet the relevant breed standards and are socialized well, enhancing their chances of success in the ring.

The show also reflects changes in breed recognition and participation. The American Kennel Club plays a central role in which breeds appear on the roster and in competition; the AKC maintains the registry and recognizes new breeds as they meet its criteria. One of the breeds noted this year is the Danish-Swedish Farmdog, described in show materials as the smallest in the working-dog category and noted for its energy and affectionate nature. “A lot of them think it looks like a Jack Russell Terrier or a squirrel dog,” said Marty Greer, a breeder, describing public impressions of the breed. Recent additions like the Lancashire Heeler and the Danish-Swedish Farmdog illustrate the dynamic landscape of breed recognition within the AKC.

Returning champions and past winners remain part of the narrative. Vito, a pug, was last year’s Best in Show winner at the National Dog Show and is cited in the event’s recent coverage as an example of the competition’s diversity of breeds. His presence continues to symbolize the mix of established expectations and new contenders vying for the title.

Christopher Guest is identified in the show’s origin story as the director of Best in Show, the mockumentary that lampooned dog-show culture and, indirectly, inspired NBC executive Jon Miller to pursue a televised version with the Philadelphia Kennel Club. That decision gave the event a national platform and eventually the large Thanksgiving audience Frei described.

The weekend format concentrates activity within a single expo center in Oaks, with dogs remaining in benches and grooming areas so handlers and judges can move efficiently through breed classes. The operational details of this event shape the spectator experience significantly: the benching system keeps competitors in view and supports the show’s claim to be unique among large U.S. conformation events.

WHYY has chronicled the show’s comic origin and its connection to Best in Show, with Stephen Dubner identified in the coverage as a host at WHYY who participates in that storytelling. Local breeders and handlers continue to bring both established and newly recognized breeds to the ring, reflecting shifts in the broader landscape of American dog shows and registry recognition. As a testament to this evolving tradition, the ongoing recognition of breeds by the AKC illustrates how these competitions adapt to include a wider variety of dogs and their unique traits.

As the weekend progresses, judges will move through the scheduled classes and select group winners leading toward Best in Show. The format keeps competitors and their dogs on-site throughout the day, offering spectators repeated access to the breeds and handlers they come to see.

“‘Best in Show’ did not make fun of the dogs. They made fun of the people. We’re a target-rich environment,” David Frei said, summing up the mixture of affection and good-natured ridicule that has become part of the event’s public image.

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