The 2025 AKC National Championship, presented by Royal Canin, has crowned its 25th champion! The nation’s biggest dog show took place on December 13-14 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Lhasa Apso “JJ” GCHP CH Ta Sen Westgate Jingle Juice took home the title of Best in Show. The five-year-old Lhasa, handled by Susan Giles, won the Non-Sporting Group. JJ bested six other group winners to become America’s National Champion on December 14.
JJ is owned by Susan Giles, Cindy Sehnery, and Muriel Wolverton, and was bred by Susan Giles, Cindy Sehnert, and Ellen Lonigro.
The Reserve Best in Show winner was GCHG CH Tamarack Valley View River Of Dreams, a Gordon Setter known as “River.” River is owned by Dr. Ellen Shanahan and Stacy Threlfall of Great Barrington, MA, and was bred by Brian Hubbard, Matthew McGillivray, and JoAnne Van Aller.
From Hounds to Non-Sporting Dogs
Giles grew up with dogs, but they weren’t quite Lhasas. She would bring home hunting dogs for her dad: these would be any dog they could get their hands on, usually hounds. She thought she would continue with hounds into her adulthood, but when she lived in a city with a very tiny yard, suddenly her idea of owning something like an Irish Wolfhound didn’t seem as realistic.
She had previously met a Lhasa Apso, and really liked their personality. Giles got herself a Lhasa puppy in 1973. Shortly after, a Shih Tzu handler she met suggested she go to the conformation match, and that was her first introduction to dog shows. “I drove six and a half hours to my first conformation point show the day he turned six months old,” she said. “And he won his class the first time.”
Through this, she met so many people in the Lhasa community, and learned everything she could about the breed. “We’d go over every do we could possibly get our hands on. I learned a great deal of conformation, structure, and skeletal structure of the dog, that kind of stuff,” she says. She sought out a conformation bitch from Ellen Lonigro, Kinderland Lhasa Apsos, who she co-bred and co-owned with for 25 years until Lonigro’s retirement. “It was a very successful and easy relationship.”
JJ: A Born Show Dog
JJ, at five years old, is unlike any dog Giles has ever had. “He started off when he was just a puppy, and went Winner’s Dog at the National Specialty,” she says. He’s already won over 25 best in shows and reserve best in shows, as well as three national specialty wins and a host of local specialty wins.
“JJ’s probably the absolute best show dog I’ve had,” she says. “He really enjoys doing it, gets out there, always on, always ready to go.” He’s a little atypical of the breed, who Giles says can sometimes be a little stubborn. It’s the first time she’s won something of this scale with JJ or any of her dogs, but she’s not stranger to the big stage. She’s been to every AKC National Championship, and won the Non-Sporting Group with a Lhasa Apso in 2002.
“JJ has won more best in shows than any of my others, maybe even combined,” Giles says. “Part of that is the fact that he’s well put together, and that he likes to show.”
Half a Century of Lhasa Breeding
At nearly 80 years old, Giles has been breeding Lhasa Apsos for 50 years. She started in 1975, two years after she got her first Lhasa. Her dedication to the breed also earned her 2025 AKC Breeder of the Year for her program, Ta Sen Lhasa Apsos.
“I remember sitting in the trailer of a husband-and-wife breeding team one night in Pennsylvania until three o’clock in the morning discussing structure,” she laughs. “I was like a little sponge, and I enjoyed learning and I enjoyed watching professional handlers.”
The best in show at the American Kennel Club National Championship is something Giles is incredibly proud of. “It’s the icing on the cake. The breeding program is the cake: you have to have all the ingredients to come up with a well put-together dog that fits your standard and has the type and style,” she says. “Then the showmanship that allows you to get out there and win groups and best in shows is, like I said, the icing. It’s really nice to be recognized like that.”
A Happy Dog
What’s next for Giles and JJ? With so many wins already under their belt, they’re hoping to perform well at Westminster in 2026. “I’ve always enjoyed showing, and I enjoy competing.”
She loves Lhasas because of the similarities she sees in them. “I really enjoy their personalities – they’re a bit stubborn and independent, and there are things about them that kind of remind me of myself.”
Westminster will likely be his retirement. “His swan song,” she says. “But I’ll continue showing dogs. We’ve got another Lhasa coming up behind him, but I don’t know that he’ll have the same success rate as JJ.”
“He’s just a super happy dog,” she says. “For a breed that’s supposed to be wary of strangers and aloof, he’s just a sweet, happy dog.”
The AKC National Championship, presented by Royal Canin, has crowned its 2025 Best in Show! Learn more about conformation and follow your favorite breeds at dog shows throughout the year.