Here is a collection of news from around the country, with reports on Junior Handlers progress and successes at recent shows

View a collection of images of our young handlers at the national


images courtesy Jacinta Poole

National Show, Melbourne, May 2015

The 2015 National in Melbourne was another great GSD event and it was great to see so many youngsters involved in and around the rings. This year saw us have a handling masterclass on the Thursday and the child handlers classes on the Friday.

Despite the weather on the Thursday it was great to see 14 handlers come to the handling masterclass and take the opportunity to learn from some of our best handlers. It was also great to see a big crowd around to watch the afternoons events. This hour was spent with each of the participants split up into small groups with a handler and there own to dog to spend the hour asking questions and practicing what they had been speaking about to get feedback on their skills. It was a great afternoon with everyone having a great time and learning lots of new things. I would like to give a big thank you to our handlers Sharon Ballantyne, Craig Rice, Hazel Docherty, Andrew O’Loughlin and Peter Hersant for coming down and helping to make this event such a success. I would also like to thank the Victorian club, Robyn Knuckey and Jane Pike for their help organising the event I hope you can all take this format and use it at your own club and have more great events like this in the future.

Friday saw the Child handler classes judged by Dr Candy Baker with 17 kids across the 3 age groups from 6 different states. In the 7-10 both Max and Baylie did a great job both with different experience levels I’m sure we will see them both in the ring in the future. The 10-13 age group had 6 participants many of who we saw putting into practice what they had learnt at the master class the day before. The 13-18 age group had 9 participants who we saw in child handlers and handling in a number of classes over the weekend. It was great to see all these youngsters showcasing their skills in these classes and continuing to gain experience spending time with the GSD.

I look forward to seeing all the youngsters at the next shows and club events and hope you continue to enjoy the GSD!!

Thanks Jess

SA Champ Show, June 2015

The GSDC of SA Inc had their championship shows on 6 & 7 of June. It was a fantastic weekend weather wise, and it was fantastic to see some of our up and coming Youth Handlers in the conformation classes as well as in the Youth Handlers competition. Our three handlers that competed in the handlers competition were: Amber Phillis in the 10-13 age bracket, and Bree Hanson (1st) and Nikita Stacey (2nd) in the 13-18 age bracket. All three handled their dogs really well, and received glowing critiques on the pegs from judge Tina Sunman.

As mentioned, it was great to see some of our younger handlers in the ring handling for conformation classes. Amber did a terrific job handling her own baby puppy bitch both days, and achieved 2nd place on the Sunday! She also handling a minor puppy bitch on the Saturday, and took a class winner in for the challenge line up.

A big thank you must go to those that are giving these young handlers a chance to handle dogs – without this support they cannot learn and practice. Hopefully everyone will soon follow suit, and we will see more and more classes with youth handlers in them.

Andrew O’Loughlin