AKC dog show winners: notable champions and how they get there

What the AKC National Championship Is

The AKC National Championship presented by Royal Canin runs each December at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, and functions as the AKC's year-end showcase for conformation. The winner stood out in a competition that featured more than 5,000 dogs and more than 200 different breeds on display. It is a separate event from the Thanksgiving-weekend National Dog Show broadcast on NBC, which crowned its own Best in Show winner in Philadelphia, and from February's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York, the oldest of the three. All three use AKC rules, but they are distinct shows with distinct trophies.

Full results, judging panels, and entry schedules live on AKC.org's National Championship hub, which updates after every group and the final Best in Show judging.

How AKC Dogs Win: Judging Criteria

The mechanics surprise a lot of first-time spectators. Dogs at the AKC National Championship presented by Royal Canin are not competing against one another. Judges don't compare one dog to the next. Winning dogs are those that most closely conform to their breed standard.

That standard covers structure, movement, coat, and temperament as written for that specific breed, not some universal idea of a good dog. A judge evaluates gait on the move, bite and bone structure on the table, and overall balance against the written description for the breed. Win Best of Breed and the dog advances to one of seven group judgings (Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, Herding). Win the group, and the seven group winners meet for Best in Show, where a single judge picks the dog that best represents the ideal of its own breed on that particular day.

It is worth knowing that Best in Show doesn't carry a fixed cash figure across every AKC event. At the National Championship specifically, recent Best in Show winners have earned a $50,000 prize from the event's sponsor, on top of the title. "Monty" triumphed over more than 5,600 competitors to earn a $50,000 cash prize when they were awarded Best in Show at the AKC National Championship Presented by Royal Canin.

Memorable Recent Champions

The last three National Championships read almost like a rotation through AKC's seven groups, which is part of the appeal. No single type of dog dominates for long.

2025: JJ the Lhasa Apso. Lhasa Apso "JJ" GCHP CH Ta Sen Westgate Jingle Juice, handled by Susan Giles, took home Best in Show in 2025. JJ, a member of the Non-Sporting Group, is owned by Susan Giles, Cindy Sehnery, and Muriel Wolverton, and was bred by Susan Giles, Cindy Sehnert, and Ellen Lonigro. The win marked the 25th year of the event. Reserve Best in Show went to a Gordon Setter named River, owned by Dr. Ellen Shanahan and Stacy Threlfall of Great Barrington, MA, and bred by Brian Hubbard, Matthew McGillivray, and JoAnne Van Aller.

2024: Monty the Giant Schnauzer. Giant Schnauzer "Monty" GCHG CH Hearthmore's Wintergreen Mountain RI CGC TKN FITB won the 2024 AKC National Championship Best in Show after winning the Working Group. He went on to win the 2025 Westminster Best in Show months later. Monty is unusual for stacking a National Championship win with a Westminster win in the same show season, a feat most champions never manage even once.

2023: Comet the Shih Tzu. Shih Tzu "Comet" (GCHP CH Hallmark Jolei Out Of This World) earned the title of Best in Show in 2023 and was the first of his breed to win the AKC National Championship.

Alongside the headline Best in Show, the event also runs a National Owner-Handled Series for exhibitors who show their own dogs rather than hiring a professional handler. In 2025, owner-handler Alexis Chism and her German Wirehaired Pointer "Greta" earned top honors at the 2025 AKC National Championship, capturing the National Owner-Handled Series (NOHS) Best in Show title. It is a smaller spotlight than the main Best in Show, but it rewards a different kind of dedication, since the person at the end of the lead is also the one who raised and trained the dog.

2025 Group Winners

No breed has a lock on the National Championship, which is the point of judging against a standard rather than head-to-head. The 2025 AKC National Championship Dog Show group winners were:

• Herding Group: Graham, Old English Sheepdog
• Toy Group: Aslan, Pomeranian
• Terrier Group: Baby Joe, Miniature Schnauzer
• Hound Group: Zaida, Afghan Hound
• Sporting Group: River, Gordon Setter

Each of these dogs was judged against its own breed's written standard, not against the other group winners. The official AKC breed standards those judges work from are published at AKC.org's breed standards library, broken out by group and breed.

Where to Watch and Follow Results

Live and archived results for the National Championship post directly to AKC.org, and the show itself streams on AKC.TV during the December weekend. If you're trying to verify a specific dog's titles, registration, or breeding record rather than just the headline winners, the AKC's own lookup tool is the place to start, and our guide to using it covers what the registration numbers actually mean.

For a lower-stakes companion to the conformation ring, our rundown of the 2025 National Dog Show covers that separate Thanksgiving-weekend event, which draws a bigger television audience than the AKC National Championship even though it carries less weight in the sport itself. And if the whole idea of judging panels and breed standards sounds like a lot of ceremony for what is, in the end, a dog standing nicely, our roundup of online dog shows worth watching covers where to find something a bit less formal.