Meet the Hosts

David Frei

David Frei, America’s most renowned authority on all things canine, is a natural choice to serve as the expert analyst for NBC’s National Dog Show Presented by Purina®. An American Kennel Club (AKC)-licensed judge who has officiated dog shows all over the world, Frei hosted television coverage of “The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show” for 27 years (1990-2016). He has co-hosted the National Dog Show on NBC since its inception in 2002, becoming a Thanksgiving Day fixture in millions of American homes. New York Magazine once called David “probably the most well-known human in the world of canines.”

A successful breeder, handler and owner in the purebred dog show world, he is proudest of the work his dogs have done as therapy dogs at the Ronald McDonald House New York, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the New York City VA Hospital, the VA Hospital of Seattle, and more.

His first book, The Angel By My Side (2002, with Mike Lingenfelter), claimed two Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) awards. His second book, Angel On A Leash (2011), also a DWAA award winner, is his view of his world of therapy dogs and his life in dogs, taking its title from his charity. In 2018, David was inducted into the DWAA Hall of Fame.

Today, True Dat, David’s beloved Cavalier and constant companion, visits patients every week at Seattle’s VA Hospital. She is carrying on the work begun by his late therapy dog warriors of the past 25 years – Grace, Teigh and Belle, all Brittanys, and Angel, his first Cavalier.

About his life in the dog world, he says, “A Bible verse tells us that ‘a faithful friend is the medicine of life.’ I think we can say that about all dogs, our faithful friends indeed, whether you find them with their people at the National Dog Show, or as therapy dogs visiting people in need, or as a family member sitting next to you on the couch at home.”