February 17th

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Whenever there is a ‘hot topic’ of conversations as is going on right now from many within the Chambray Owners Program, I will receive an inordinate amount of inquiries concerning that subject.

Rather than spend my available time answering each email in a repetitive way, I use this blog format to cover as many of those wanting and asking the same questions, because for each person that asks a question, there are 10 more that also want to know but don’t ask!

So I employ the old ‘killing of 2 Mockingbirds with one fell swoop’! (Remember my penchant for mangling metaphors and crucifying clichés)

“Regarding your recent blog about the handling of dogs……how do you determine which handler takes which dogs into the ring?” JE

After a lot of scrutiny and strategizing and working with each dog at the nightly training classes and at the private one-on-one training sessions, I get to see what works best for that individual dog and which of our handlers brings out what’s needed for the dog to shine in the ring. I then consider which dog show class that dog will do better from according the many other criteria (too numerous to go over in this blog) and then I consider which of our other dogs will be in the same class competing against each other.

Once I have all that information collated and making some kind of sense, I then confer with the other members of Team Chambray and collectively we come up with a strategy for each dog in our management program including which handler will be ‘assigned’ to which dog.

Now, nothing is cast in stone because as the manager of the entire program I reserve the right to change up things as I see fit………………….even to the point of switching a handler right at the moment of walking into the ring………………….that has occurred dozens of times in the 30+ years of our showing dogs.

The bottom line is that each and every call made is to benefit the individual dog. At times the dog’s owner may not comprehend what is transpiring and may have question as to the decisions made, however the protocol  of our management program is that we will cover any and all such questions after the show is over or better yet after the weekend is over and done with.

There is absolutely no time to confer or explain to anyone about changes made while we are working the show ring. In fact, I let everyone know whose dog we manage that they are not to approach any of the Chambray handlers within half hour of the show starting with any questions or problems……………..all such matters are brought to my attention after we finish showing……………….in addition I may let that person know to wait until after the weekend is over.

After each and every show, the handlers of Team Chambray go over each and every exhibit in our charge. We discuss how each dog performed and what could have been better. We may even decide to change handlers for the next day’s show according to all the facts and figures that present itself.

For each weekend of shows, there is a general game plan that is drawn up and followed, however since things come up that may be unexpected, changes are made at a moment’s notice to keep everything flowing as smooth as possible.

“Do your owners have a say on who handles their dogs?”

Yes. We accept as much input from the owners as will aid the dog. We consider every option and will work with requests that are within reason.

There are times when a particular handler already has an assigned dog in the same class as another dog, so that request may not work well for the time being. At times the assigned handler gets caught up in another breed ring and it becomes impossible for that handler to make it back to the Lab ring in time to enter the ring as happened this past weekend in Lakeland.

We have eventualities in place to cover almost all occurrences in order to present a well-organized and seamless operation. If we know that we can end up with more dogs winning their classes than we have handlers, we contact as many capable outside handlers as may be needed.

Of course those handlers have their own handling rosters and may also have conflicts of their own. In the last 15 years or so, there hasn’t been one instance where we didn’t have things totally covered and that bodes rather well for our show management program because most of the time we end up having to contract outside handlers to handle our overload of winners.

Now, what we let our owners know is that we have things totally under control and do not want nor need any input from them once the show kicks off and we begin to do our jobs in and out of the ring. In fact, we insist that all queries and concerns wait until the show is over or best until the whole weekend is over.

“Can a specific handler be contracted as a priority for a particular dog”.

In a recent blog I covered what an ‘assigned’ handler is and what an ‘exclusive’ handler is. There are also instances where a handler gives a certain dog a priority over another dog or dogs that they also handle.

For instance, Jessie handles Max from the Open Yellow Class, Rico from the Bred By Exhibitor Class and usually a male puppy from the Puppy Class. If she wins 1st place with all 3 dogs, then her Winners Dog priority is the Open Yellow dog, Max because she is already inside the ring with that dog. If Rico and her puppy assignment win their classes and Max didn’t, then her priority is Rico from the Bred By class.

Jessie also handles several females and each has a specific priority. This past weekend she won with the Open Yellow bitch, Jolie, she won with Sam from the Am Bred Class, she won with Stella from the 12 to 18 Class and she won with Evie from the 6 to 9 Class. Because she was already in the ring with the Open Yellow bitch Jolie, she stayed on her for Winners Bitch.

Suitable backup handlers were put into play to cover her other winning exhibits. In fact, we ended up needing 6 handlers to go back for Winners Bitch as we had all the females going back in for Winners! We contracted 2 outside handlers and all went off without a hitch.

Now, priorities change when it comes time to handle in the Best Of Breed competition. Here the champions of that breed take priority over the class winners of that breed. So, although Jessie’s bitch from the Am Bred Class was Winners Bitch, her priority over that class dog was her assigned champion dog Tucker that she handled. A suitable outside handler was brought in to cover the Winners Bitch, while the rest of Team Chambray covered the other 2 champions, plus an extra outside handlers was brought in to handle to Winner Dog, which we also had.

It should be noted here that Jessie works for Chambray Labradors in the Labrador ring, however she is also an independent handler with other breeds and at times she is covering those breeds while Team Chambray is back in the Labrador ring covering our assigned dogs. It then becomes a matter of timing, with many times she has to contract outside handlers to cover her other breeds if she gets caught up inside the Lab ring and vice versa as occurred this past Friday.

These conflicts occur very frequently, however because we consider every possible condition before hand and have things already in play, very few of our clients ever realize what is transpiring all around them.