The American Kennel Club has released its annual ranking of most popular dog breeds. For the 21st successive year, the Labrador Retriever took the top spot in the country, while the Yorkshire Terrier remained at the top of the pack of favorite breeds for New Yorkers.

Photography by Kathy Landman

Ordinary dogs undergo extraordinary transformations in order to win at dog shows, and among the most eye-catching is the Standard Poodle.

The Poodle is a water dog, and, untended, has a nappy dense coat sort of like good pile carpeting that hugs its rangy body. But in the hands of an expert groomer, a Poodle becomes a dazzling confection, something between a meringue, a soufflé and a topiary hedge.

In the grooming area for the Westminster Dog Show, contenders for Best of Breed, Best of Group, and Best in Show are getting pressed, primped and powdered. See what it takes for dogs to walk the walk in our video and slideshow.

America’s leading show dogs have their own Facebook pages and they're getting lots of traffic.

The 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is right around the corner. Learn more about the new dogs on the block -- from coonhounds to Ceskys to Xolos -- who will be strutting their stuff at Madison Square Garden.

A corgi named Harry dressed up as an M23 bus and his owner, Ben, who was a bus stop, won "Best in Show" at the Tompkins Square Park Halloween Day Parade on Saturday. Other winners included canines dressed as Hurricane Irene, Charlie Sheen and the management at Trader Joe's. Check out a slideshow here.

The late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide in 2010, left £50,000, or $81,500 in his will for the continual care of his three dogs Minter, Juice, and Callum.

When Jerry Seinfeld called out, “Release the hounds,” he probably wasn’t imagining the extravaganza that is the Bryn Mawr Hound Show, held each year on the handsome grounds of the Radnor Hunt Club in Malvern, Pennsylvania. One of the largest such sporting events on the East Coast, it offers the hound enthusiast — what’s not to love? — a day with top packs of beagles, bassets, and foxhounds from all over the area.

The indie rock band The Antlers is back with a new album called Burst Apart. Watch The Antlers' perform "Putting The Dog To Sleep" in WNYC's Soundcheck studios below.

Although the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is often compared to a fashion show, a number of show dogs have multiple titles in field sports and obedience—competitions that require them to use both their DNA and their brains—and an even larger number of retired champions go on to careers as therapy dogs.

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show would not be possible without the tireless efforts of hundreds of people, some concerned with the nuts-and-bolts, some with creating a vital milieu for humans and dogs alike. WNYC checked in with some of Westminster’s stalwarts about their attitudes towards this year's show.

The 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be held on February 14 and 15 in Madison Square Garden. But across the street at the Penn-Top Ballroom at the Hotel Pennsylvania on Friday night, the Pre-Westminster Gala Puptials was the center of Midtown West’s canine attention.

WNYC's resident K-9 expert Sarah Montague weighs in on the city's top five favorite breeds. Plus, watch a slideshow here.

As the light pleasures of summer give way to the denser ones of autumn, our meals get denser, too. This week, “Last Chance Foods” looks at hunting and that means it’s time to call the dogs.

WNYC took a look around the "No Place Like Home" National Pet Home Decor Showcase where 25 "petrepreneurs" displayed the latest in high-end doggy and kitty goods.

Unless the person behind the shutter is Richard Avedon or Annie Leibowitz, it's hard to get too excited by the celebrity portrait. But something amazing happens when the camera shifts a bit, and gives pride of place to the family dog.

New York City prides itself on diversity—its rich ethnic tapestry, its international visitors, its confluence of cultures. This past weekend, those traits were celebrated with a twist—or perhaps we should say, a tail at an event designed to introduce the public to breeds of dogs and cats, some with histories as old as recorded civilization.

Keeping dogs happy is a serious business for Malcolm Smart of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. With a doggie daycare center, grooming shop and supply store, he has made a love for pups his life's work.