American Kennel Club Owner-Handler Competition

On a cold snowy day in Des Moines Iowa inside the industrial arts building on the Iowa State Fairgrounds there are about 300 people getting all different breeds of dogs ready for the first day of a big show that has over 1000 dogs entered in the show. Outside of Ring 1 stand the Toy Fox Terrier exhibitors all ready to go compete for Best of Breed (each dog or bitch entered has a handler the person who shows the dog).To start the competition you have to start with puppy dogs then open dogs and any other class dog entries then the winners of each of these classes compete against each other for winner’s dog. Then it starts over again with the bitches. After all classes of bitches have competed, the bitches who win first in their class compete for winners bitch. Then the ring steward calls in all the specials (champion dog and bitches) then winners’ dog, winners bitch and then all the entries in the ring compete for Best of Breed. To be eligible for best owner handler the dog or bitch has to be competing for best of breed. The inside ring steward calls them in and all 8 dogs and handlers go around the ring and get evaluated by the judges. After about 15 minutes the judge starts placing his winners: Best of Breed, Best of Opposite, Best of Winners, Select Dog, and Select Bitch. AKC offers points for all dogs who win Best of Breed, Winners dog and winners’ bitch which goes towards their AKC Championship. The owner handler is an extra competition that gives an owner handler points for national rankings. Then the ring steward proceeds to tell the judge that the Best of Winners is the best owner handler (a dog or bitch owned and showed by the exhibitor and not a professional handler). Now because of an untrained ring steward the number 10th dog in the country in owner handler just lost 6 points because the wrong dog was awarded the best owner handler. If the ring steward had been trained right she would have known that there still had to be a competition for best owner handler. So the steward should have had the winners bitch leave the ring and all the rest of owner handler eligible dogs should have compete for the Best Owner Handler, and maybe the 10th dog in the country could have won and gained 6 more points. To ensure that Owner Handlers and there dogs get the proper recognition for wining Best Owner Handler the AKC needs to retrain the ring stewards and rewrite there diagram that is handed out to ring stewards.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) has been around since 1884. The biggest dog show the AKC host every year is the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. According to the Westminster Kennel Club website the Westminster kennel club dog show is the second longest running sporting event in the United States: Only the Kentucky Derby has been around longer. Dog shows make lots of money for the AKC. Every weekend in the United States there is a dog show somewhere. Dog shows bring out different types of people. The majority of people who show at dog shows are owner handlers: however there are quite of few professional handlers also. These professionals go to dog shows every week and they get paid to show other peoples dogs. Professional handlers are not necessarily better than owner handlers but because they get seen by more judges and they are out showing every weekend judges are more likely to make them the winner or owner handlers who the judges don’t know or see all the time.
A professional handler can take a dog that has problems or issues that shouldn’t even be shown and win because it’s shown by a professional. At a show the everyday owner handlers compete in the ring with these professionals. Nine times out of ten a professional handler is going to win Best of breed and win the group and the most important award Best in Show. Sometimes these professionals win as they have the best dog but most of the time it’s because of who is on the leash not what is on the leash. So in order to make more everyday people who compete feel like they have a chance to win the AKC came up with the AKC Owner- Handler Competition. This is why it’s important that ring stewards have the right training in awarding Best Owner Handler.
The AKC Owner-Handler Competition is for any owner handler that has never been a professional handler or anyone that has worked for a professional handler or has accepted money to show dogs in the past 5 years (American Kennel Club, 2010). It’s supposed to be determine who best owner handler of the breed is after best of breed is awarded and all eligible dogs are the only ones left in the ring however this does not happen. At the Topeka show the ring steward told the judge that Best of Winners dog was also Best Owner Handler, there were 5 other dogs eligible for this award in the ring. The ring steward should have excused the winners bitch and told the judge who the other dogs were that were eligible, this happens a lot at shows. (K.S. Sunnenberg. Personal communication. April 4, 2015). This tends to make lots of owner handlers angry as they are competing to be ranked in the top ten of their breed to get invited to the Eukanuba National Dog Show in Florida.
A inside ring steward is a person inside the ring that is in charge of making sure all eligible dogs for the class that is being shown is present. The steward has to mark a book with who wins first second third and fourth. Then they have to mark the number of dog who is winners dog (the best dog) winners bitch (the best female) and who goes Best of Breed, Best of Winners and Best of opposite and Select dog and Select Bitch. All dogs or bitches that are eligible for the owner handler competition have an asterisk by their name in the steward’s book. Here is an example of what an entry in the show catalog looks like for a owner handled entry, this is what the ring steward sees, the asterisk means the entry is owner handler eligible. 1/W/BW | *15 | TNT N TOCUTE ONE LAST CHANCE. TS251161/01. 10/30/2014. BREEDER: Sunnenberg and Phillips. By Ch HC TO CUTE WILD WOOLY WILSON-TNT &Azefer who's that girl. OWNER: SUE SUNNENBERG TABITHA PHILLIPS TROY DVORAK |

The AKC hands this diagram to the stewards before the show that says how to determine who best owner handler is.

(American Kennel Club n.d.)
The problems begin stewards don’t understand how to read this diagram. Ring Stewards think that if a dog goes best of winners then that dog is automatically best owner handler which as the diagram shows is not true. A steward that does this causes lots of issues for the people who know how this is supposed to run. There have been arguments that have happened because a steward didn’t know the proper way to award this prize. This is why we need retraining of the owner handler program to the stewards so the right dog wins. At the beginning of every show that offers the owner handler competition the ring stewards have a 30 minute meeting with the AKC representative and this is where the video (https://youtu.be/hzZfxfE8db4). This video shows the proper ring procedure for awarding the Best Owner Handler award and would be best utilized so there would be no confusion to the stewards on who should be award best owner handler. Everyone who shows wants a nice friendly competition, one that is peaceful but some take this owner handler series very serious and want to make sure it’s done right. This is why stewards need retrained in the owner handler competition and the AKC needs to take the 30 minutes at the beginning of the show to explain and or show the video. By showing this video it would explain the awarding process better and show the ring stewards how to determine who is eligible for owner handler so they judge can pick the Best Owner Handler.
In the owner-handler competition the owner has to show the dog and continue showing the dog till the end of breed competition. The rule that everyone doesn’t realize, which is important especially if as an owner has two entries in the competition is that a co-owner can show the dog for the owner as long as their name is on the AKC registration papers. Most people don’t realize this rule exists and so a lot of them don’t enter the owner handler competition. This rule should be stated on the premium list when you enter in the owner handler competition. The AKC needs to make sure that people know this rule and that ring stewards are familiar with this rule also so then they don’t mark someone as ineligible when they really are.
As with any issue there are people who are against this owner handler competition and they think it’s a waste of time. People say it extends the dog show longer than it has to be due to having owner handler groups and the fact that owner handler groups use the same judges as regular groups. What these people don’t realize is it takes no more time to properly hand out the owner handler award then it did when the stewards had to start handing out the select dog and bitch award. People who thinks it’s a waste of time are people who as owner handlers have never competed in it. They don’t realize the satisfaction that an owner handler or a breeder owner handler gets from winning this award. (thedogtalk.wordpress.com/tag/owner-handler-series/)
On any given weekend in the United States there is a dog show being held. Each show brings in hundreds of dogs. According to bestinshowdaily.com among the dogs that are entered 80% are owner handlers. Most of the dogs they are showing are ranked in the top ten of their breed for owner handler. Everyone going for the same award an invitation, to the Eukanuba dog show in Florida. However without properly trained ring stewards the wrong dog will get the points. This upsets lots of people so the AKC need to take the time and retrain all stewards so the right dogs win and the owner handler competition will continue. The everyday owner handler is what makes up the majority of the entries that the AKC collect at dog shows and retaining the stewards on the proper way to handle this competition is of most importance to keep the sport of dog showing going on.

References About the AKC NOHS - American Kennel Club. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.akc.org/events/nohs/finals/about/
AKC National Owner-Handled Series Procedures. (2015, August 5). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzZfxfE8db4
AKC Owner Handler Series. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.onofrio.com/AKC_Owner_Handler_Notice.pdf AKC’s Owner-Handler Series. (2015). Retrieved June 16, 2015, from http://www.bestinshowdaily.com/blog/akcs-owner-handler-series/ https://thedogtalk.wordpress.com/tag/owner-handler-series/ American Kennel Club. (n.d.). Retrieved from www,onofrio.com