Hosted at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, the Eukanuba World Challenge is a competition designed to bring together the top dogs from around the world to compete for the title of Eukanuba World Challenge Champion and a $10,000 prize. All FCI recognized breeds are eligible to compete in the Eukanuba World Challenge.

One additional entrant from North America will compete in the EWC. This dog will qualify via regional and national Eukanuba Breeder’s Stakes competitions.

It is Eukanuba's aspiration to promote and celebrate magnificent dogs. We are bringing together breeders from around the world, along with their Top Winning dogs, to celebrate this common passion. We are happy to give breeders/ owners/ handlers the opportunity to showcase their breeding stock by extending an invitation to compete in this unique international competition, The Eukanuba World Challenge. This Challenge provides breeders, dog owners and fanciers from around the world an opportunity to appreciate the quality of many of the world's Top Winning dogs. These dogs will have been nominated by their national kennel clubs or won some of the world’s most prestigious shows.

This year, the Eukanuba World Challenge will take place on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th of December 2010 in Long Beach/California, during the 2010 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show.

Breeders / owners / handlers of top dogs selected by national kennel clubs from around the world may compete in the Eukanuba World Challenge. If a national kennel club is not involved in the selection process, the top dog from that country will be selected based on show ring awards / achievements at FCI or UK Championship shows in that country between January and October 2010. The winners of such shows as FCI section shows from Europe, Asia and Americas plus the winner of the Eukanuba Breeder’s Stakes in North America will also receive automatic tickets to participate in the World Challenge.

To the dog owners who will travel to the USA, Eukanuba will cover costs of a five day trip to Long Beach, California for one person and the selected dog to compete in the 2010 Eukanuba World Challenge. This will include a return airplane ticket (tourist class), room and board in the hotel and specific expenses as per applicable terms and conditions (published under Rules & Regulations on eukanubaworldchallenge.com). If the invited breeder or dog owner is a member of the Eukanuba Breeders' Club by August 1st 2010, Eukanuba will pay expenses for an additional person travelling to the Challenge.

There are several rules which Eukanuba expects all invited breeders/ owners to follow. They are published under Rules & Regulations on eukanubaworldchallenge.com.

In 2009, we expect around 50 dogs from more than 40 countries to participate in the Eukanuba World Challenge finals in Long Beach. This number is not fixed as in few cases winners of the prestigious shows such as World Dog Show (with an automatic invitation), may be selected by the kennel club to represent his country. However, one should remember that 2009 Eukanuba World Challenge is opened to practically any country as there are automatic invitations to the winners of the prestigious dog shows.

To the dog owners who will travel to the US, Eukanuba will cover costs of a five day trip to Long Beach, California for one person and a selected dog to compete in the 2009 Eukanuba World Challenge. This will include a return plane trip ticket, room and board in the hotel and specific expenses as per applicable terms and conditions (published on www.eukanubaworldchallenge.com website). If the invited breeder or dog owner is a member of the Eukanuba Breeders' Club by August 1st 2009, Eukanuba will pay expenses for an additional person travelling to the Challenge.

There are several rules which Eukanuba expects all invited breeders / owners to follow. They can be found on the Eukanuba World Challenge site: www.eukanubaworldchallenge.com in the Rules and Regulations section.

In principle, Eukanuba is not part of the top dog selection process. Each participating kennel club has been asked to nominate 2 top dogs (1 nominee and 1 reserve). The selection can be the top winning dog based on a rating system or the winner of a designated show or several shows. The FCI may be asked for input on the final selection taking into account different factors which would allow the invited dogs to compete on the highest level. In the event that a kennel club does not wish to or is not able to participate in the dog selection process, Eukanuba and FCI will use a ranking or a dog's awards system in key shows to determine the nominee from this country. Over that, FCI, AKC and Eukanuba have decided to extend automatic invitations to the winners of some of the most prestigious shows. Currently they include: winners of the FCI sectional shows in Europe, Asia and Americas and the Eukanuba Breeder’s Stakes in North America. Due to the latter, Eukanuba World Challenge is open to all countries as any dog can win one of these prestigious shows.

Also, FCI and Eukanuba are organizing a Eukanuba World Challenge qualifying competition during the World Dog Show in Herning/Denmark in June 2010. This competition will involve around 20 smaller countries with predominantly smaller numbers of dog registrations. FCI judges will select 3 best dogs which will represent this group of countries in the Eukanuba World Challenge final in Long Beach. It is worth noting that bringing qualifying rounds of the World Challenge to Europe creates another opportunity for new countries to participate in this unique competition.

Judges selected to judge Eukanuba World Challenge are considered some of the most experienced dog judges in the World. All dogs from the FCI countries will be judged according to the FCI standards and in the case of dogs from the UK, Canada and USA they will be judged according to the standards of these countries.

There are 3 definitive competitions where invited dogs and their owners/ breeders/ handlers can compete. These are:
1. Eukanuba World Challenge 2010
2. 2010 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship - Regular Breed Class; this invitational show is for the Top Dogs in their breeds from both the USA and from selected shows from FCI countries around the world, where the breed is AKC recognized.
3. Best-bred-by competition where breeder/owners show their dogs.
Please note that if a top dog meets AKC eligibility criteria to compete in the 2010 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, that dog can participate in all three events otherwise as a FCI recognized but non-AKC recognized breed they will compete in the Eukanuba World Challenge.

Yes. All FCI recognized breeds can participate in the Eukanuba World Challenge event. However, one needs to remember that dogs of the breeds not recognized by the AKC will not be able to participate in the 2010 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.

Only those dogs which meet AKC eligibility criteria will be able to compete in the 2010 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. Therefore, dogs which are not included in the list of AKC recognized breeds will not be able to participate. However, those dogs are still eligible to participate in the Eukanuba World Challenge.

In 2010, we will be inviting dogs and their owners from around 60 different countries representing Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, North and South Americas, and the Caribbean region. The list of invited countries is available at your national kennel club or the FCI.

Top Winning dogs from the following countries / major dog show winners will be invited to compete in the 2010 Eukanuba World Challenge:

• 3 top dogs from the FCI World Dog Show Qualifying Event. 19 European countries invited to participate: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
• 20 top dogs from Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom (Winner of Eukanuba Champion Stakes) and South Africa.
• 8 top dogs from the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, North America (Winner of Eukanuba Breeders Stakes), Puerto Rico, Uruguay and USA (AENC BIS Winner).
• 7 top dogs from Asia & Pacific: Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan.
• 3 Winners of FCI Section Shows: FCI Americas & Caribbean Dog Show BIS Winner, FCI European Dog Show BIS Winner, FCI Asia Dog Show BIS Winner.

All participating dogs will be divided into 4 sections without a preference for the region. Therefore, dogs from Europe may compete in the same group with dogs from America and Asia. Section placements will be made during the World Dog Show in Herning/Denmark in June 2010. The selected best 3 dogs from each section will go to the final competition where the winner and two runner-ups of the Eukanuba World Challenge will be chosen. Thus, the final of the Eukanuba World Challenge will consist of 12 dogs.

AKC has invited renowned international dog judges with many years of experience. Judges will use FCI breed standards to judge dogs from the FCI countries and the UK, Canada and US standards for dogs from those countries. The AKC has invited the following judges to judge the 2010 Eukanuba World Challenge: Eukanuba World Challenge Winner selected by Hans T. Lehtinen (Finland); Group judges: Damir Skok (Croatia), Sean Delmar (Ireland), Desmond J. Murphy (USA), Stefan Stefik (Slovakia).

The winner of the 2010 Eukanuba World Challenge will receive a monetary prize of $10,000. Runner Up and First Runner Up will be awarded $3000 and $2000 respectively. The Kennel Club of the winning country, which participated in the dog selection process, will be eligible for a special prize of $5000.

The selection process of dogs will be regulated/ governed by the national kennel clubs of the invited countries and not by Eukanuba. Breeders and owners of top dogs interested in participation in the 2010 Eukanuba World Challenge should initially contact their local kennel clubs to discuss the criteria chosen by the kennel clubs to select top dogs for this competition. It is recommended that those who have registered an interest with their local kennel club should then visit their local Eukanuba breeder club (if applicable).