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Who's ready for the big show?! In a change from years' past, Day One at Westminster will welcome a different set of groups. This afternoon Best of Breeds were awarded for the Hound, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding sets, and the Group judging starts at 8 p.m. EST to find our first four finalists. (Last year had Terriers, not Toys, on the first night.)

I'm definitely tuning in to recap the top dogs and not-so-secretly hoping for a smooshy (like North or Samson) to capture their group.

See a gallery of pictures from the first afternoon's festivities when you read more

Do you recognize this furry face? It's Sadie, the Scottie that won the 2009 National Dog Show on Thanksgiving. As it turns out, this terrier also captured Best in Show at the AKC/Eukanuba Dog Show that aired on Animal Planet on Feb. 6, making her the latest champion.

As she's quite the favorite already, many believe she'll go on to capture the big win at Westminster next week as well. After all, she was a group finalist in 2009 — remember her lil piddle here — so she's surely one to watch.

Learn which other pups rounded out the semifinalists (There was a smooshy!) and see one more picture of Sadie when you read more

Puppies, puppies, puppies! While the American Kennel Club official press conference and most popular breed announcement was yesterday, I had to share some cute photos from the event. After all, everyone remembers something a little better when there's a cute visual to go along! If I had to caption this picture, I imagine the lil Lab nudging a reminder to the German Shepherd, "Don't get too cocky now, I'm still top dog."

As the most noteworthy change in the top 10, the Labrador Retriever remained the most popular breed while the German Shepherd moseyed up to two. As both breeds often work to serve and protect, some brave adult pooches were present, too. I've still got love for them as well!

All kidding aside, the photos are quite cute so check them out when you read more

While the American Kennel Club releases an ordered list of the top 10 most popular dog breeds based on the previous year's registered numbers, I decided to host my own informal survey here on PetSugar to see which pooch our readers picked as the most common. Choosing from the most popular dogs from 2008, you decided that this year's list toppers would be Labrador Retrievers once again!

Considering that this breed's come out on top for the last 18 years and counting, I'm thinking your vote for labs will be right again this year when the results come in. But only time will tell for certain and, if you haven't voted yet, don't forget to take your pick because I'll be comparing our final rankings to the official ones released by the AKC in January.

Source: Flickr User pmarkham