MR. EDMUND DZIUK | Columbia, Missouri. Edmund Dziuk has been devoted to Beagles for nearly 50 years, breeding or owning more than 75 champions, including five National Specialty Best of Breed winners and 11 All Breed Best in Show winners. His connection to Westminster is especially memorable, having twice won Best in Show with Beagles— Uno in 2008 and Miss P in 2015— alongside many other notable wins since first attending in 1980. Licensed since 2009 to judge the Sporting and Hound Groups and part of the Toy Group, he has judged Beagle specialties across the U. S. and internationally, with four previous Westminster assignments including the Hound Group in 2023.
MS. DENISE FLAIM | Sea Cliff, New York. Denise Flaim is a professional journalist, award winning author, and former dog magazine publisher who began showing, breeding, and lure coursing Rhodesian Ridgebacks in the late 1990s. A member of the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of the United States, the American Azawakh Association, and the Dog Judges Association of America, she also serves on the board of the Morris & Essex Kennel Club. She judges all breeds in the Hound, Working, and Non Sporting Groups, with assignments across Europe, the Americas, and Australasia. This year marks her second Westminster Kennel Club judging assignment, having once covered the show extensively as a Newsday reporter before stepping into the ring herself.
DR. IAN HOWELL GABRIEL | London, England. Ian Gabriel is the third generation of his family devoted to purebred dogs, with a lifelong focus on Fox Terriers under the Gaybryl prefix. His dogs have earned major wins internationally, including Best in Show at the Fox Terrier Gold Cup and top honors at Montgomery Kennel Club. Life President of the Fox Terrier Club of Wales, he has judged Terriers for more than 30 years across Europe, Australia, Scandinavia, and the United States, and is approved for the Terrier Group and Best in Show in the UK, along with Toy, Hound, and Herding breeds. A former Vice Chairman of The Kennel Club and longtime board member, he has attended Westminster for over 25 years. 2026 marks his second judging assignment at the show.
WESTMINSTER. There’ s only one ® 27