AKC National Championship: How to Watch America's Biggest Dog Show

Last December a Lhasa Apso called JJ walked out of a convention hall in Orlando as America's National Champion, and JJ's owner went home $50,000 richer. The show JJ won is the AKC National Championship, the one conformation show the American Kennel Club runs itself and, by the club's own account, the largest dog show in the United States. Thousands of the country's best show dogs are judged breed by breed, then group by group, until one dog is left in the ring. The 26th edition comes back to the Orange County Convention Center on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December 2026.

The AKC reported 5,557 dogs entered in conformation for the 2025 show, from all 50 states, Washington DC and abroad, and more than 9,000 entries across the week once agility, obedience and the rest were counted. The premium list, the show's own rulebook, puts the Best in Show prize at $50,000 again this year.

Saturday and Sunday in the Rings

Judging is split cleanly across the weekend. On Saturday the AKC judges the Sporting, Hound, Toy and Non-Sporting breeds, along with Junior Showmanship, in which young handlers are marked on how well they show a dog. On Sunday come the Working, Terrier and Herding breeds and the Miscellaneous class, and the weekend ends with Best in Show. If you can only go for one day, go on Sunday: the seven group winners meet that evening and one of them is named National Champion.

The premium list gives show hours of 7am to 11pm on both days, with all judging indoors at the North/South building, 9899 International Drive. The Best in Show judge is Dr Thomas M. Davies of Brimfield, Massachusetts, who is also chairman of the AKC board. Running through both days is the Best Bred-by-Exhibitor competition, open only to dogs shown by the people who bred them, and the National Owner-Handled Series Finals, for dogs handled by their owners rather than professionals. Owner-handlers and breeders get their own Best in Show.

The Week Around the Show

The championship sits at the end of what the AKC calls Championship Week, and the hall is busy for days before the main rings open. Breed specialty and group shows run earlier in the week, as do all-breed shows hosted by the Space Coast Kennel Club of Palm Bay, the Brevard Kennel Club and the Central Florida Kennel Club. On Friday 11 December the Puppy and Junior Stakes gives dogs aged six to 18 months a national competition of their own.

The working sports fill the other halls. The 21st AKC Agility Invitational runs from 11 to 13 December, with dogs invited by breed on their year's results, so you watch the fastest Papillons, Border Collies and Shelties in the country take the same course. The Obedience Classic runs on 12 and 13 December and the RACH Invitational brings the best rally dogs. The AKC also names its diving dogs as a regular attraction, the event where dogs race down a dock and leap into a pool after a toy.

Watching From Home

The AKC says this year's coverage will run on AKC.tv and the AKC YouTube channel, and AKC.tv streams around the clock on the web. Last year the club went further: the 2025 final aired on ABC as a three hour special on 28 December, two weeks after the show, so anyone who wanted to watch the result unfold without knowing it had to stay off the news for a fortnight. No television slot has been announced for 2026 yet. Check the AKC page in December.

The AKC had not posted spectator ticket details by late October, so check its event page before you travel. Parking at the convention center is set by the venue, and the premium list gives the car rate as $10.65, with a paid receipt good for coming and going the same day.

Your Own Dog Stays at the Hotel

The premium list is blunt about one thing: only dogs that are competing or taking part in an official demonstration may enter the building, and anyone found with an unentered dog is removed from the site. It calls this zero tolerance. However well behaved your dog is, it watches the National Championship on AKC.tv from the hotel room.

So the hotel matters more than usual. The AKC's host hotel list names thirteen hotels, most within a mile of the hall, where rooms in the AKC block come with a special pet policy for exhibitors and visitors, and every one must be booked by phone rather than online. Nine of the thirteen charge no pet fee to guests in the block; the other four charge a $60 cleaning fee for rooms with dogs. One of them is joined to the North/South building by a skybridge.

For a stay built around the dog, we would look at Universal's Hard Rock Hotel, which holds a B on its Roch Dog review. It arranges both dog walking and dog sitting, which settles the real problem of this weekend: someone to look after the dog through a long Sunday in the hall while you watch the groups.

It is a rock themed hotel of 650 rooms inside the Universal Orlando Resort, with a 12,000 square foot pool, a giant waterslide and a sand pit. Your dog gets bowls and free treats, size is no bar because there is no weight limit, and on the days off the two of you can sit out in the garden, on the terrace or in the lounge. The fee is $100 a stay.

For walks, lakes and patios across the rest of the city, our Orlando City Guide has the detail. If December in Orlando whets your appetite, the next big American show is two months later in New York: our guide to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has the dates and the night by night order.

The Dates to Hold

The Puppy and Junior Stakes is on Friday 11 December. The National Championship groups run on Saturday 12 December, then the remaining groups and Best in Show on Sunday 13 December, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Somewhere in that hall on the Sunday evening, one dog out of thousands will be named America's National Champion, and its owner will collect $50,000.