24 Saber Tails Summer 2017

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

Junior Showmanship is a unique competition that equips 

kids ages 9-17 with the knowledge of handling, groom-

ing and good sportsmanship.  From a kid’s perspective, 

the competition is fierce and the pressure to show your 

dog to the best of your ability is always high.  There can 

be no “off” days. 
Doing all of this with a stubborn scent hound?! 
Sign me up! I like a challenge.
Sound like an exaggeration? Perhaps not. 
Junior Showmanship is serious business.  From a young 

age, kids participate in a competition that teaches them 

the value of dog showing and ownership.  Juniors are 

judged based on how well they show their breed of dog.  

Many juniors show breeds like Golden Retrievers or Do-

bermans. You know, dogs that can actually stand still. 
Very few kids show PBGVs in juniors and few know what 

they are.  Some judges even had to ask if they are a table 

breed. Nevertheless, there I was in the ring with a PBGV.  

I have always loved their personality. Stubborn, clownish 

and happy come to mind.  These traits can make a junior 

stand out in the ring… and not in a good way. 
Showing PBGVs in Junior Showmanship has given me a 

particular set of skills.  I can always keep my PBGV focused 

on me and the tasks at hand while in a ring with tons of 

dogs as well as bait that has fallen on the ground.  Ha ha! 

It’s okay to laugh.  I laughed, too.  Through it all, though, 

I learned patience. 
Patience is the biggest life skill I have learned through 

showing PBs in Juniors. This started on day one with 

learning how to even begin training for Conformation.  

My first PBGV was a veteran that had been out with a pro-

fessional handler and who knew what he was doing.  Oh 

boy, did he make me look like a fool! 

I 

Junior Showmanship...With a PBGV

By Katherine Howell

feel like he could sense how novice I was and decided to 

take advantage of that. I learned quickly that this wouldn’t 

be easy.  I have had many shows that would perfect my pa-

tience skills.  Every PBGV on more than one occasion will be 

stubborn in the ring. 
What?!  You don’t say! 
In Junior Showmanship, though, it is all about how the ju-

nior handles the situation when their dog decides to be 

stubborn.  Do they get frustrated or do they keep calm and 

attempt to focus their dog?  When my PB would become 

stubborn and decide to not listen, I had to make the choice 

quickly if I was going to tell myself to stay calm and hope 

it transfers down the lead or become flustered and make 

things worse.  Sounds like a “no brainier” right? 
Well, when you are a kid/teenager, your emotions are all 

over the place.  It takes a lot to calm yourself down and get 

your dog focused when everyone in the ring and outside of 

the ring is staring at you.  You have to convince yourself of 

the truth that the only thing that matters is working with 

your dog and becoming a team.  This is the ultimate goal of 

any junior, to become a team with their dog and make han-

dling look effortless to where the junior “disappears” and 

the dog is the sole focus of the judge. 
Being a junior handler exposes kids to the world of dog 

showing.  It teaches them about breeds, training, grooming, 

breeding, good sportsmanship and more.  These Juniors are 

the future of the sport. They are being molded into future 

professional handlers, judges, owner-handlers and breed-

ers. Most importantly, these kids are being taught valuable 

life lessons through experience. 
Junior Showmanship not only teaches lessons in patience, 

it also teaches humility and commitment.  These attributes 

carry over to their schoolwork, relationships, and other as-

pects of their life.  I am forever grateful for my experience in 

Junior Showmanship and would not trade my wins or the 

struggles for anything. 
I am now a provisional Ju-

niors Showmanship judge, 

and I look forward to judg-

ing junior handlers and 

their dogs, be they German 

Shepherds, Dobermans, 

or all of our favorite breed 

--  the stubborn, albeit love-

able, PBGV. 
And, in my mind, I will be 

chanting one word:  Pa-

tience, patience, patience.