A Lake Wales man is the Best of Show judge for the National Dog Show airing on Thanksgiving. Charles Olvis of Lake Wales will serve as the Best in Show judge for the 2025 National Dog Show. Olvis is one of only 19 American Kennel Club judges permitted to judge all recognized breeds.
Growing up with a father in the military, Charles Olvis never got to have a pet because of his family’s constant moving from town to town, doggone it.
But after he graduated from high school in Fairborn, Ohio, Olvis bought himself an Old English sheepdog and trained it himself. By the time he was 20, he and his sheepdog began entering and winning local dog show competitions, and those wins led him to study, train, and become an official American Kennel Club judge.
The AKC is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that is the largest registry of purebred dogs and a major sanctioning body for dog sports and events.
On Thanksgiving Day, Olvis’ canine-centered good judgment will be on display across the United States and farther. He will be the Best in Show judge for the 2025 National Dog Show – organized by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia and sponsored by Purina ― airing from noon to 2 p.m. on NBC following the Macy’s Day Parade. The competition took place Nov. 15-16 at the Philadelphia Expo Center.