Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of Great Britain Junior Handler of the Year competition

17th September 2006

Judge: Gail Storie

I had the great pleasure of judging the Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of Great Britain Junior Handler of the Year Competition held during the annual breed championship on 17th September.

Juniors qualify for this competition by winning a handling class directly
preceding the competition and also handling classes at club events during the year.

As much as I enjoy judging the Junior Handling competitions, I would like to see the club being more proactive with the Juniors by inviting previous winners of this competition or one of the Junior Handing Association handling competition finalists to judge future competitions. I would like to see the club involve Juniors who are also YKC members in the running of the Championshiip show, such as being a Junior steward, or collecting ring steward.

The Juniors are the future, not only of showing but of the future preservation of the breed and we must do all in our power to encourage and promote them. Another consideration for the committee or ( YKC, or any other general canine club ) would be to hold a breed specific seminar aimed at the Juniors, perahps this could be combined with another aspect of the canine world, such as a handling seminar, breeding, careers with animals, the possibilties, whilst not being endless, are many.

Junior Handler of the Year Gabriella Oxlade - 12 years old, an extremely competant young handler. Very smartly dressed, presents her charge in profile very well and performs accurate and precise patterns. However she does have a tendancy to get ahead of her dog when on the move and this needs to be watched.

Runner Up Junior Handler of the Year Iain Williamson - 8 years old. I was very impressed by this young man. He was smartly dressed and coped very well with his puppy ( never easy in any breed never mind with a Wheaten! ) He has not yet been taught how to perform the patterns commonly asked for in Junior Handling classes so I only asked him to perform a triangle and a straight up and down. However he twice broke the Golden rule which cost him dearly. I have to judge, as I do in breed judging, on what I see on the day, not on what has been or on what could be. Iain has the potential to achieve alot in Junior Handling competitions and I just hope that he receives the mentoring and tutoring his obvious ability so rightly deserves.

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