Some of the nation’s top working dogs are in Warren County this week to compete for the 2010 National Field Champion title given by the American Kennel Club.

“It’s like the NFL for dogs,” a spectator yelled out at Sunday’s events, which marked the start of this year’s National Retriever Club Championship Stake, being held at Ronnie and Randy Lampkin’s property off Bovina Cutoff Road. The 95 dogs and their handlers arrived last week for practice sessions.

“These are the best dogs in the country,” event chairman Joseph Broyles, a physician from Baton Rouge, said Sunday.

Vicksburg is the first city in Mississippi and in the central time zone to host the event that began in the 1940s.