Meet Westminster’s youngest handler
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10-year-old Rachel Glenn will be the youngest (human) competitor at the Westminster dog show this year, and she sure is excited about it (as the video demonstrates).
Rachel began showing dogs in Junior Showmanship, a training ground of sorts where young handlers ages 9 to 18 learn the ropes of presenting show dogs in the conformation ring. She began showing in Juniors at age 9 and quickly moved through the ranks from the Novice class to the Open class. She’s shown English cocker spaniels, Shiba Inu, Tibetan spaniels, and the dog she’ll be exhibiting at Westminster, a German shorthaired pointer named Comet. From the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record:
‘They expect me to stack him and they want me to be able to show them how I do it,’ Rachel says. ‘They want me to be able to move the dog in the form he should be moved in.’ Comet is bigger than Rachel, but she has no problem showing him who’s boss. ‘If you put your hand under the bone in their jaw, that helps you control the dog,’ Rachel says. ‘Also, grabbing their tail, but not pulling on them, also helps.’
Westminster’s preliminary junior handling competition will be held Monday, with a final showdown among the top eight Juniors on Tuesday.
Correction: According to the Times Herald-Record, further research shows that another junior handler at this year’s Westminster is actually younger than Rachel. (But she’s still among the youngest!)
--Lindsay Barnett
Video: AMNY.com