The Seven Secrets of Show Success Find A Great Handler BY MICHAEL AND CATHY DUGAN
A few years ago the P o r t u - g u e s e Water Dog National Specialty was held in San Luis Obispo, Cali- fornia in October and Aviator Kennel had eight class dogs and
a great owner but without a great handler it’s unlikely you’ll ever have the kind of success that we enjoyed with Ladybug. Amy Rutherford has handled dogs for us for ten years, finish- ing many champions and placing several PWDs in the top ten. To accomplish that level of success, we’ve watched Amy and her assistants work incredible hours, get little sleep or decent food and work in really terrible conditions. Whether it’s showing a dog in the rain and mud at an Oregon show or grooming with electrical equipment in two inches of water at Eukanuba, the word “glamour” does not apply. WHAT ARE THE TRAITS OF A GREAT HAN- DLER OR WHAT IS A “GAS DOG’ ANYWAY? Once you’ve made the decision to hire a professional han- dler, you need to look for very specific traits exhibited by the top handlers. First and foremost, is your handler honest and forthright with you and other handlers? Is she brutally hon- est about the quality of your dogs and their chances to win? We have seen more than one dog dragged around in com- petition by a professional handler who has no real chance to win a Best of Breed much less multiple groups or Best in Shows. We’ve even talked to owners of these poor beasts and listened to them talk about absolute nonsense their handler has dumped on them about why their dog should continue to show. We’ve never shown our dogs to lose or be mediocre. We don’t always win, nobody does, but we’re always commit- ted to only present dogs when they have a legitimate chance to win and take advice from our handler to heart. So, what is a gas dog anyway? A gas dog is a dog whose primary purpose is to provide additional income to help defray expenses for the handler even though the dog is unlikely to be really success- ful. Good handlers don’t do that; they want to win as much as the owners; or at least, they should. GREAT HANDLERS AND BREEDERS HAVE GREAT REPUTATIONS: Great handlers also have great reputations with the fancy, judges and other handlers. We know that there have been times when one of our dogs won because we have had Amy Rutherford, Bill and Taffe McFadden primarily as our han- dlers over the years. It wasn’t because our dog was inferior and a judge favored the handler anyway. In any judging com- petition there are times where a judge will have two or three dogs of virtually equal quality or standards; how can they make a final differentiation? It’s not unethical or wrong for a judge to look at how the dogs are handled; who gets the absolute most out of a show dog in the ring? It’s also human nature for judges to get used to the fact that some handlers always show up with outstanding dogs; they aren’t showing gas dogs. That’s why the great handlers are honest with their client/owners/breeders about the quality of a dog brought to them. They self-select out dogs that they know just aren’t going to do very well. Judges figure out who bred particular dogs over time; great breeders develop a “type” and “style” if they know what they are doing. We have a young PWD named “Jedi” who lives in South Korea and competes all over Asia. He won multiple shows in the Philippines recently. His owner and handler told us that on the first day of six days of competition, several judges asked him if Jedi was an Aviator dog; they suspected as much based on the way Jedi looked and moved. We are pleased to be an overnight success after more than 30 years!
nine specials for Best of Breed entered in the week-long com- petition in multiple classes and specials. On the Sunday prior to the beginning of the National on Monday, our professional handler, Amy Rutherford, competed with Ladybug in Bur- bank, California winning a Best in Show from Judge Houston Clark. Amy and her crew then immediately drove from Bur- bank to San Luis Obispo, a three hour drive. We had arrived early at the show to help coordinate our herd of dogs and their co-owners who drove in to help with the show. Once in SLO, Amy set up her grooming area with her assistants Camille Bakker and Megan Hoff and went to work bathing, grooming and training their charges for the week’s events. We did very well during the week, winning class and veteran classes shown by Amy, Camille and Megan. On Wednesday, just after the class dogs were finished, Amy used our Mazda CX7, packed with her Scotty Terrier to drop off at San Francisco Airport, a six hour drive, to pass off to a fellow handler, Bill McFadden, on his way to the big Terrier show in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Amy got back to the SLO show ground by about 3:00 a.m., ready to show dogs that morning. By Friday, we were ready for the Best of Breed competition for the National Specialty. At a tent we set up near the show ring, Amy and her crew organized and managed a dozen vol- unteer owners, including us, to hold dogs, keep them out of the weather and do a little final brushing. We were delighted of course when Ladybug won the National Specialty and Avia- tor’s Asta Primdona “Asta” won an Award of Merit. But…there was no celebration, nor the opportunity to enjoy a nice char- donnay with the whole crew. Delayed only by the required photo with Judge Karen Arends, Amy and Megan left within an hour to drive to the San Francisco Airport, still a six hour drive, including Lady- bug, crates and gear and several Terriers all packed into their van. Amy had to be at Montgomery on the east coast—now! After dropping off Amy, Megan Hof drove three hours to their kennel in north Sacramento to prepare for the Roseville, California dog show that started on Saturday morning. That day, Megan handled Ladybug and won another Best in Show from Judge Col. Joe Purkheiser. Back in San Luis Obispo sev- eral of our dog owners helped us assist Camille in packing up all of the tents, grooming tables, equipment, tools and gear into our van and our Mazda CX7. The night before one of Amy’s generators was stolen from the site to add to the chaos. Camille left immediately on Friday back to Sacramento and we picked up our car at their kennel on Saturday. Just another
dog show and 1,000 new miles on our Mazda. PEOPLE DO THIS FOR A LIVING?
While the logistics for the National Specialty may seem unusual; it’s not. This is the life of professional handlers and owners of competitive dogs. You can have a great dog and be
38 • S how S ight M agazine , S eptember 2018
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