Taking The Lead

Hello all! Firstly apologies for a delay absence – I have been ill and the recovery slow. I think that there has been a lot of people who have been struck down with the latest bout of winter lurgy! So, 2018 is under way and there have been a few ...

Lots of new things happening around and about at the moment. For example the KC have published the unbeaten rule now to encourage exhibitors to enter stakes and AV classes. I still think that the KC should make it a rule that only the BOB and BP from the BREED classes ...

Poor sportsmanship is something I abhor. Recently I judged and one of the exhibitors made it very obvious that they were not impressed with my placings. Facial expressions, loud sighs and even laughter is incredibly rude and should not be tolerated. I genuinely do not care what people think of my ...

Bullying is something that appears to be rife at the moment in the show world and I think it’s a real shame if people are made to feel that there is no other option but to give up a hobby. I have written before about it and I think it is ...

Even the most experienced of us make mistakes. I find rarely are those mistakes are intentional to affect others or cause harm. Sometimes exhibitors feel under a lot of pressure and their actions may be out of character and as a judge and fellow exhibitor sometimes allowances need to be made. ...

The dreaded figure of 8 sometimes raises its ugly head at shows and I have used it a couple of times to split exceptional handlers. It is intended as a training tool and not really expected in competition but it would seem that this pattern is making more and more of ...

The one thing I feel that everyone must have in common, in the dog show fancy, is a love of dogs and showing. Another thing I am pretty certain of is that without people volunteering and giving a little bit of commitment to our sport it is going to disappear. ...

Learning about other breeds is quite important if you want to judge handling. The reason for this being that people will show their dogs as they are meant to be shown in the breed ring and rightly so. The whole point of handling is to get the best from your dog ...

Adult Handling Final 2017 Firstly I would like to thank the Coventry Ladies Kennel Society for inviting me to judge these Handling Finals. I had great hospitality and a wonderful time over the 3 days. Thank you to all of the handlers that gave me the tough job of ...

There was an announcement this week from the Kennel Club reminding exhibitors about entering the classes that your dog is eligible for. In the gazette there are always prizes being revoked due to dogs being entered in to classes that they have won out of. These classes are all classes ...

After City of Birmingham Championship show there has been much chatter about withholding awards. For those who may not be aware, a judge withheld from a whole class (placing only 1st) in quite a numerically strong breed. There has been much discussion about this and the reasons why it was ...

Firstly please let me apologise for the lack of column last week – I was pretty ill and I just did not feel up to writing a column… Especially given the adventure I had to even get to see an emergency dentist! The Coventry Ladies Kennel Society Adult Handling Finals ...

Integrity is a word that gets banded about quite a bit in the dog show world. There are many moans about “crooked” judges and even more “crooked” exhibitors but I think sometimes this is blown out of proportion. When someone decides to judge I think it’s very important to decide ...

So the cut-off date for entering the finals has passed. Now we are all hopefully waiting and practicing in anticipation! There is no doubt that perfecting skill for competitive handling comes from hard graft and learning from ones mistakes. I have been handling for over 10 years now ...

The subject of asking anatomical questions has raised its ugly head again on Facebook. There is a split opinion on this but I was quite glad to see that the majority of comments made on a particular thread on Facebook were in support of questions being asked. Junior handling, and therefore ...

Anne Defaye has asked me to remind you all that the invites to the finals will start to go out, she must receive your intention by the 8th of August 2017 please. If you do not receive your invite before the middle of July please get in touch with her as ...

Well, a life line has been thrown for those outcast by DOGWORLD and hopefully a phoenix has risen from the flames in the form of this new online platform! I am delighted to be part of this and have an avenue for writing and contributing my thoughts-I hope that you will ...

I have had pet dogs all of my life, it wasn't until I met my husband and we moved in together that we got our first dog together. I really wanted a Labrador but my sister in law had just bred her beagle bitch and was expecting her first litter and ...