Page 202 - ShowSight - December 2019

THE
PROFESSIONAL HANDLERS
1. Your Website?
2. Where do you live ?
3. Tell us how you got started in dogs.
4. What made you know that this was where you belonged?
5. Who were your mentors?
6. Do you breed?
7. Do you like to stick to any particular breed or group?
8. How do you travel to shows? Hotel or RV? How many do you attend in the average year? Prefer outdoors or indoors (or don’t care)?
9. What is the best thing about being a professional handler?
10. What is the toughest part about being a professional handler?
11. Is your family involved?
12. Are you involved with an all-breed club? Have you held posi- tions within the club?
13. What can Clubs do to make handlers’ job easier?
14. What can Clubs do to make handlers want to enter?
15. And for a bit of fun, what’s the most amusing thing you’ve ever witnessed (or heard about) at a dog show?
LUKE & ROWAN BAGGENSTOS
Our Mentors: Luke: my father Rick and stepmother Dinah. Rowan: I worked for Michelle Yeadon for over 12 years, she is who I learnt everything from and to this day still think of her as family. I have admired Andy Linton for as long as I can remember and think of him as one of the greatest handlers, I have learned a lot from watching him over the years.
We are both actively breeding Japanese Chin and Miniature Bullterriers.
We do not stick to any particular breeds or groups.
When traveling to the shows we are in our show hauler/renegade motorhome. We attend a show almost every weekend with very few weekends off. We prefer outdoors shows!
The very best thing about being a handler—the dogs!
The toughest part of being a handler is returning the dogs once their careers are finished. When we show dogs they become family, they become our dogs and the bond that we have with these dogs is so strong, when their show careers are done and they leave us to return to their owners it is so difficult. It is one thing for us as adults to be upset by these special dogs returning to their home but it is so hard on our kids, seeing how sad they are to say goodbye makes it so much harder.
Our families are very involved, our daughter starts juniors this February sand our son has enjoyed showing in Pee wee competitions! Rowan’s mother is an all breed judge, currently breeds and shows. Luke’s parents are professional handler and actively breeding.
We are members of our local all breed club (Timberland Ken- nel Club in Chehalis, Washington) and are both members of our national breed clubs. Luke was vice president of the Minibull club and Rowan is currently forming a local Japanese chin club.
If clubs could be more exhibitor friendly, make sure that your parking, grooming and show layout is workable for us, it would be much easier. It can be really difficult to show 20 dogs when our truck is a mile away or our grooming spot is in another building.
If clubs hire good judges, have a workable venue and make han- dlers feel welcome they will get our entries!
Dog shows in the Pacific Northwest are some of the most fun shows there are, we have an amazing group of handlers in this area and there always seems to be hilarious happenings at our shows! Too many funny stories to list, but if you haven’t come to shows out here you are seriously missing out!
JENNIFER BELL
My website is Jenniferbellhandling.com and I live in Prairieville, Louisiana.
How I got into dogs? I grew up with Labradors and trained/ran them in hunt tests. When I went to college at 18 years old, I bought my first show dog with a student loan.
What made me know that this was where I belonged? I started watching Westminster on TV when I was three years old and always knew I’d have a life with purebred dogs.
Who were my mentors? As handler, Laura Coomes was my men- tor. I had breed mentors as well.
Do I breed? Yes
Do I like to stick to any particular breed or group? I would say my specialty breeds are Beagles, Labradors and Great Danes, in that order.
Our website is Lukeandrowan.com. We live in Curtis, Washing- ton; Luke, Rowan, Teagan (8) and Nolan (5).
Luke: I have been involved in purebred dogs my whole life. My parents breed Old English Sheep dogs and Afghans. I started to show dogs at the age of four and have been doing so since then! I am the currently the Northwest zone rep for PHA. My father and step mother are also professional handlers and Dinah my step mother is the president of the Professional Handlers Association. Rowan and I breed Japanese Chin, and Miniature Bull Terriers.
Rowan: I was born into a dog show family, attended my first show at two weeks old. My mother is an all breed judge, she has bred Akitas, Shiba Inus and Japanese chin. I worked for Profes- sional handlers for 15 years, won my first best in show at 12 years old on a Shiba. I have spent my whole life in pure bred dogs and absolutely love dog shows. I have had Japanese chin for over 20 years now, breed many champions, national winners and shown best in show winners. They are without a doubt my favorite breed!
198 • ShowSight Magazine, DeceMber 2019