The spotlight will be on the most talented canines in the country when the AKC National Championship Dog Show airs on New Year's Day. Megan Leavey, U.S. Marine Corporal Veteran, who completed two tours in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 along with her military working dog Rex, joined us to chat about her life experiences that influenced her to get involved in the event.
The competition celebrates five dogs that have significantly improved the lives of their owners and communities. Leavey explains how the organization selects the dogs for the show and shares the most extraordinary thing she has seen a dog do. She says the bomb-sniffing dogs make the top of the list.
Leavey was discharged from the military after suffering an injury in the line of duty and receiving the Purple Heart. That didn't stop her from working with some of the most talented dogs. The veteran continued to work as a K9 handler in NYC with another explosion detection dog.
Simpson’s gridiron legacy was forever overshadowed by the 1994 knife slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. A criminal court jury found him not guilty of murder, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable.
Hollywood closed out an up and down 2023 with “Wonka” regaining No. 1 at the box office, strong sales for “The Color Purple” and an overall $9 billion in ticket sales that improved on 2022’s grosses but fell about $2 billion shy of pre-pandemic norms.
