Events

2022 National Specialty

Date: May 21, 2022

Location:

Locust Trace Agri-Science Center

3591 Leestown Road, Lexington, KY 40511

Thank you to everyone who came to Lexington for the 2022 UKC Kangal Dog Club of America Specialty Show. It was great to see old friends, make new friends, and celebrate our unique and remarkable dogs. We even had two Junior Handlers, both Kangal owners, come out and share in the fun.

2024 National Specialty

Date: October 6, 2024

Time: 8:00am

Location:

Cleveland County Fairgrounds (Indoors)

615 E Robinson St

Norman, OK 73071

Thank you to everyone who came to Norman for the 2024 UKC Kangal Dog Club of America Specialty Show. A big thanks to Marcy West, Tamara Taylor (KDCA members) and Kristal Spenrath, fellow Kangal owner (and huge asset), for stepping up and making the show a big success.

Eleven Kangal dogs were shown and the judge was greatly impressed with the dogs she judged. The results of the Specialty are shown in the chart below.

The following two photos are of the top winning dogs:

1. Crystal’s dog, "Turkmen Zimba Keci Coban (aka: Leo)", won best male. He’s not even one year old yet.

2. "PR Turkmen Zeus's Theros (aka: Summer)" owned by Marcy West. Summer is also a baby (not yet two years old) and she is beautiful!

Thank you to our judge Stephanie Mueller and to Locust Trace for hosting us. A huge additional thank you to the student volunteers who were a big help!

2026 National Specialty

Date: June 10, 2026

Location:

Kalamazoo County Expo Center & Fairgrounds

2900 Lake St

Kalamazoo, MI 49048

Pre-Entries Opened: April 20, 2026

Pre-Entries Closed: May 18, 2026

On June 10, 2026, we held the 2026 Kangal Dog Club of America National Specialty in Kalamazoo, MI under judge Gregory Wessel in conjunction with the UKC Premier. Thanks to all who helped along the way and all who attended. We had a total of 10 entries (with two Junior Showmanship). And the winners are:

Best in Specialty Show (BISS) - BLK Appa (19-month female) owned by Dennis Vega and bred by Chasity Corriveau.

Reserve Best in Specialty Show (RBISS) - CH Turkmen Tasi's Nuri (16-month female) owned by Leah Berecz and bred by Tamara Taylor.

Best Veteran in Specialty Show - UKC, Intl Ch Pr EMCC Lexington Bell @ Sunburst owned by Karen Gray and bred by Elisabeth Jensen.

Altered Best in Specialty Show - UKC, Intl Ch Pr EMCC Lexington Bell @ Sunburst owned by Karen Gray and bred by Elisabeth Jensen.

Best Junior Handler - Levi Berecz (8–13-year class)

Reserve Best Junior Handler - Anaiah Berecz (4-6-year class)

Special thanks to Rachel Prince who helped tremendously and ensured that all winners had beautiful rosettes to commemorate the wins. Thanks to the Kangal Dog Club of America and Babette Turk who donated a beautiful Turkish Kangal Dog Collar for the Best in Specialty Show; Animal Predators book by Janet Vorwald Donher for the Reserve Best in Specialty Show, Farm Dogs book by Janet Vorwald Donher for the Best of Winners

The excitement and festivities didn’t end with our National Specialty. Some of the exhibitors continued to compete throughout the weekend at the UKC Premier where Appa and Nuri continued winning: Appa took Best of Breed two more times, with Nuri winning Best of Breed once over the weekend.

Appa and Nuri continued showing and competing the following week in Connecticut, where Nuri won Best of Breed once, and earned a Group 4 placement. Appa took Best of Breed three times, earned two Group 1 placements, and won the highly coveted and highly elusive Best In Show (BIS), completing her UKC Champion title in just two weeks.

Congratulations to all. Looking forward to our next National Specialty.

Show Chair: Dennis Vega

dennis.e.vega@hotmail.com

Show Secretary: Rachel Prince

chippewavalleykangals@gmail.com

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2026 National Specialty

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