The Fancy Speaks

In Washington and Oregon we have been lucky to have one junior sign up for our specialty shows. This sounds like an issue that many clubs are facing. I was told the local Pug club did not offer juniors at their last specialty. When looking for a juniors judge the discussion of the Columbia Willamette Beagle Club to not offer juniors came up and I told the board if they offer the classes I will find the Juniors. I am a firm believer that juniors are the future of this sport and not offering it should not be an option. They agreed and I reached out to some of our local 4-H clubs and posted on the AKC Juniors groups on Facebook and offered to lend a beagle to any kid that would like to show. 

 I went to some 4-H meetings and taught the kids how to safely put the dogs in and off the table and gave some handling tips. We ended up with 10 juniors at our specialty show last weekend. The mentoring and support ringside by the breeders/owners that offered to supply dogs was amazing and the clapping and cheering for every kid in the ring was electric. We had people from multiple other breeds come by and make comments about how impressed they were with our club’s support for our juniors. The kids all had a blast and we have multiple others that are working on getting their juniors numbers so they can participate in our June specialty shows as well. Some of the juniors that do not own show dogs borrowed beagles and showed in the Silver Falls all breed that weekend as well. 

All in all it was a very successful weekend and a great way to get more kids involved in this sport we love.