International Junior Handling final, dfs Crufts 2010.

Following the Agria Junior handling final held at Discover dogs in November, the UK representative is to compete in the International Junior Handling final, held on the Sunday of dfs Crufts. After winning in November, I completely forgot that that representative was going to be me!

I found out closer to the time that there were going to be 36 finalists (originally 37 but the Russian representative couldn't make it), all from their respective countries, competing against one another for the big win. Juniors were coming in from places like Japan, Israel, South Africa and even New Zealand had a representative flying over to the UK! I only had about a 3 hour drive from my home to dfs Crufts, and some of these juniors would have been on plane journeys for up to 24 hours. After confirming some information details, and requesting breeds of dog that we would like to show, we were told to meet on Friday afternoon at dfs Crufts, to check in with Ben Ashcroft, the Agria Kennel Club representative, organising the event with Liz Cartledge.

We all checked in, and me and my mum went to the hotel that we had been booked in at. When we checked in, we were given an Agria bag, with a towel and other goodies, as well as a long rosette saying 'finalist' for every handler. We discovered that we were staying at the Hilton hotel, right next to the dfs Crufts venue! It was an amazing hotel, with all meals paid for and an executive suite to stay in. That night (the Friday) all the juniors, organisers, and even the judge were to meet at the Arena restaurant to meet and have dinner. Mum and I were sat at a table with the american representative Demery, the french girl Anglique and Italy's Martina. The French and Italian representative spoke very little English, so it was up to my terrible French to try and communicate with them for the evening, which was great fun! At the dinner, it is customary for each handler to give a little speech, detailing a short bibliography and introduce themselves to the other handlers. For my speech, I felt very nervous (and spoke very fast) I decided to say hello in as many languages as I could, as I was very lucky that nearly all of the handlers spoke very good English. I researched the hello's and on the night said about 25 different ones, and I welcomed them to the UK. After dinner, the handlers also exchanged gifts, and I had bought 35 little union jack pin badges for all the juniors, and in return I received an abundance of gifts, from a small towel, to note books, to a carved statue of two giraffes from South Africa! All the juniors then had to carry many bags back to their hotel rooms, where we retired for the night.

 On Saturday, we were given a ticket into dfs Crufts, and most of the juniors wondered around to look at the event. We bumped into the America's Demery who seemed very overwhelmed with the UK's top dog show! In the evening mum and I had dinner at the hotel, and got everything ready for the handling competition the next day.

On Sunday, I got up really early to make sure everything was ready for the competition. We had to be at ring 35 in Hall 5 to meet our dogs at 8am, which were kindly being lent to us for the whole day by various owners. All of the handlers had to choose one breed of dog that they wished to show, in order to make it fair for everyone. I choose a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen as my breed of dog, as I feel most comfortable with that breed, and thought it would be unique amongst other breeds chosen. At the ring side, I meet Phil and Diana Reid, the owners of the PBGV I would be using for the competition. I had a little time to practise, and then all of the juniors were called into the ring one at a time. The judge for the competition was Mr Ove Germundsson from Sweden, who had also judged Utility breeds at dfs Crufts the previous day. I was standing 2nd to last in the ring, and for my pattern was asked for a straight up and down. Immediately after the first round, we had to swap dogs, and I was given Joey, an English pointer used by the Swiss handler Jennifer. Joey was very well behaved and we did a triangle pattern in the 2nd round. Then we finally had to go in again, with our original dogs, where the judge took one last look as he marked on his programme the 8 handlers he wanted to shortlist. This list was then kept secret! We wouldn't find out the result until 5.45 that evening, during that time I tried not to panic as we waited for the final judging.

The result was held at 5.45pm in the main arena on the sunday, not long before Best in show! As we waited outside, we were all organised into our order and given blue sashes from Agria, each with our country on it which was really special (and now framed in my living room) and the dogs were getting anxious as they felt our nerves! As the time grew closer, we waited at the entrance to the big ring and each country was called forward as they ran in. The atmosphere was electric, as the crowd cheered for the parade of the juniors. After what seemed like an eternity, but also very soon, I was called in as the 'UK representative, Georgina Ferguson' and got a massive cheer! It felt so amazing to be representing my country,at that point, I could of cried with all the emotions I felt. Not really the time to loose my cool, I ran across the ring and took up my position. As the US representative finished off our line, the judge was introduced and the shortlist announced. The countries called were; Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and the UK! I was completely in shock to be called out, and nearly tripped over Alfie, to join the others in the centre line up. We all stood our dogs, as the judge made a shortlist of 3, he walked forward and selected New Zealand, Poland and Me! Again completely flabbergasted, I stepped forward to again stand my dog. This time the judge spent a while looking at us, before pointing at Poland's Aleksandra Szydlowska with a Springer Spaniel 1st, and International Junior handler of year. Next he placed Paige O'Neill with a Pointer from New Zealand 2nd, and finally me into 3rd postion. I was so happy! The representatives handed me an enormous rosette, and the commentator introduced me as 'our star of the future' to the crowd, and camera's whizzed everywhere and the clapping was overwhelming. We were all completely overwhelmed and so happy, as we congratulated each other and I led us out of the ring. I've never had such an exhilarating experience as running out of the BIS ring at dfs Crufts, clutching my rosette, even Alfie was wagging his tail like mad! After hectic congratulations and hugs from my mum and the other finalists, I had photographs and interviews with Crufts FM Marina Scott and television cameras and group photos. After thanking the Reid's for the generous lend of their dog and saying goodbye to the other handlers, Mum and I ambled back to our hotel for dinner, completely on a high from an amazing experience. It was the greatest way I could complete my handling career, and I'd like to thank Agria pet insurance, Liz Cartledge and the Judge for making it all happen. For the handler lucky enough to win the junior handling final next, all i can say is you will having the most amazing time :)

This concludes my junior handling, as I'm now 18 and too old to compete in the JHA. However I went out with a bang, and loved every minute of it, just wish I could do it all again! Thankyou for following my blog experience, and I wish you all the best on your handling adventures, its the perfect world to be involved in :)

Georgina Ferguson