AKC Best in Show

While other bloggers gained fame in 2004 by breaking open Rather-gate and reporting on the shady exit polls from the November election, Banshee Blog gained fame in its infancy through its in-depth coverage of big time dog shows. That tradition of excellence will continue in 2005.

This weekend the American Kennel Club held the Eukanuba National Championship in St. Petersburg, Florida. The two day event was televised live for the first time this year. In total, there were six hours of live coverage. As usual, Ron Reagan, self-procalaimed stem cell research expert, anchored the broadcasts.

On Saturday, winners were chosen in the toy, hound, sporting and non-sporting groups. On Sunday, winners were chosen in the terrier, working and herding groups. Then all the group winners came back into the ring to battle for Best in Show. Heading into the final competition, the smart money seemed to be on the toy poodle out of the toy group. But in the end, it was Stump (formerly known as Stumpy) the bloodhound who was crowned AKC National Champion for 2005.



For those of you who were wondering, defending champ Cocoa the Norwich Terrier was not in the competition this year. The next big event on the dog show calendar comes up in mid February when the Westiminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be shown live from Madison Square Garden.