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It’s Thanksgiving, which means you can watch some NFL football, or some tantalizing college basketball tournaments, or the Macy’s Parade, or a slew of other events. And while all of those things are assuredly entertaining, it doesn’t get much better than the National Dog Show.
The show, which took place on November 18 and 19, will be broadcast on Thanksgiving Day on NBC, starting at Noon in every separate time zone. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch the show online, on your phone or on another streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services. They cost a monthly fee but all come with a free trial, so you can watch the doggos for free as long as you’re in a select market:
DirecTV Now: NBC (live in 15 markets) is included in all four channel packages, ranging from $35 to $70 per month. It comes with a free 7-day trial, and you can watch on your computer via your browser, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the DirecTV Now app
FuboTV: NBC (live in 11 markets) is included in the “Fubo Premier” channel package, which is $19.99 per month for the first two months and $39.99 per month after that. It comes with a free 7-day trial, and you can watch on your computer via your browser, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app
Sling TV: NBC (live in 11 markets) is included in the “Sling Blue” channel package for $25 per month. It comes with a free 7-day trial, and you can watch on your computer via your browser, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app
Preview
Technically, this is a competition. At the end of the show, there will be a winner from each of the seven groups (Terrier Group, Toy Group, Working Group, Sporting Group, Hound Group, Non-Sporting Group, Herding Group), as well as one special dog named Best in Show.
But no matter the actual results, everyone at home is going to be a winner. Whether you like small dogs or big dogs or fluffy dogs or energetic dogs or majestic dogs or derp-y dogs, there will be something for you, as there were over 2,000 entrants and 150 breeds in this year’s competition. At the end of the day, you’re watching adorable dogs for two hours, so it’s really hard to go wrong:
Planning on watching The National Dog Show presented by @Purina this #Thanksgiving? Get a sneak peek at the competition by looking at the photos we took while we were there this weekend: t.co/71ez6DXUqm
For what it’s worth, last year’s winner was a Greyhound named Gia:
Congratulations to Gia the Greyhound for winning Best In Show at this year’s #NationalDogShow! 🏆 🐶
That marked the third time in the last four years the winner has come from the Hound group, as an American Foxhound captured Best in Show in 2013, and a Bloodhound followed suit the following year.
Before that, the Terrier group had mostly dominated with three wins in four years. That group now has a total of six wins since the show started in 2001: A Smooth Fox Terrier in 2004, a Colored Bull Terrier in 2005, a Scottish Terrier in 2009, a Wire Fox Terrier in 2011 and ’12, and a Skye Terrier.
The last winner that wasn’t from the Hound or Terrier group was an Irish Setter (Sporting group) in 2010. That was the third win overall for the Sporting group (Pointer in 2008 and Labrador Retriever in 2001), while the Toy group (Toy Poodle in 2006, Standard Poodle in 2002) has two wins, and the Working group (Doberman in 2003) one. The Non-Sporting and Herding groups are the only two without a Best in Show win.