Back in 2000, NBC television executive Jon Miller was taken by the movie and believed a dog show would make for entertaining television. He convinced one of the nation’s oldest dog clubs, the Philadelphia Kennel Club, to rename its event the National Dog Show and make it camera-ready. Every year, the show takes place in early November and is taped for broadcast on Thanksgiving Day.
“That first year we had 9 million people watch our show,” said David Frei, who has been an announcer on the National Dog Show since it started. “Now we’ve grown over the years. We have 25 million people watching our show every Thanksgiving Day.”
Frei said the National Dog Show does not stray far from its roots.
“‘Best in Show’ did not make fun of the dogs. They made fun of the people. We’re a target-rich environment,” he said. “I know all those people in that movie. I know those characters. I’ve been the guy who couldn’t get the Busy Bee to the dog show and got in trouble for it.”