MENTOR, Ohio — Mentor resident David Miller has been selected as a judge for the 150th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the club announced.
The 2026 Westminster show will be Miller’s first judging assignment at the iconic event.
The three-day, three-night competition will feature more than 3,000 champion dogs from around the world and will open Westminster Week on Jan. 31 with a “Canine Celebration” at the Javits Center, including the Flyball Tournament and the 13th Annual Masters Agility Championship presented by Purina Pro Plan.
Miller, a lifelong dog enthusiast, was introduced to Terriers by his parents and began focusing on Salukis while living in France in the early 1970s. Under the prefix of Shandell and in partnership with the French Saluki kennel Arab Bahari, he has bred and shown Salukis for more than 40 years and has also owned Afghans, Dalmatians and Italian Greyhounds.
In the mid-1970s and through the 1980s, Miller showed his own Salukis and handled dogs in several breeds for clients. He applied to the American Kennel Club in 1988 and was approved to judge Salukis. He has since been approved to judge the AKC Sporting, Hound, Toy and Non-Sporting groups, 14 Terrier breeds, five Herding breeds and three Working breeds.
Locally, Miller is an honorary board member and show chairperson for the Grand River Kennel Club’s Regatta Classic cluster weekend, vice president of the Cuyahoga Valley Hound Association and founder of the Regatta Classic Dog Shows in Ohio. He serves as institute director and vice president for American Dog Show Judges.
He has published in English and French in dog publications and given seminars in countries including India, Australia, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Latvia and Russia. He has traveled to North Africa through his work with sighthounds and conducted tours of Marrakech, Morocco. He also worked on canine-related programs with the wife of the former Algerian ambassador to the United Nations.
Group judging for the historic event will take place the evenings of Feb. 2-3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with breed competitions held earlier in the day at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The Best in Show winner will be crowned Feb. 3 at Madison Square Garden and judged by two-time Westminster Best in Show-winning breeder-owner-handler David Fitzpatrick.
Tickets for all events at both venues are on sale now at westminsterkennelclub.org.
Additional details, including hotel listings and FOX Sports broadcast information, are available at westminsterkennelclub.org.