American Kennel Club - The Dog's Champion

The official newsletter of the AKC Junior Organization

Winter 2017

A Message from Mari-Beth O'Neill

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful and joyful holiday season! Now back to school, and enjoying activities with your dogs.

It is planned to launch the new Junior Recognition Program in March of 2017. What is the Junior Recognition Program? A program designed to award points to Juniors participating in any AKC Event with their dog. A point for participation, additional points for placements in Conformation Junior Showmanship, handling a dog to a qualifying score in a Companion or Performance Event with additional points for placements and top awards! There will be special awards for Juniors at the end of the year who have participated in multiple AKC Events! Please make sure to include your AKC Junior Number on all entries in the future regardless of the event, this will allow the data to come directly from the Superintendent or Trial Secretary.

Have you heard about Farm Dog Certified? This will be one of the different events in which you can compete for points in the Junior Recognition Program.

The AKC Board of Directors approved $25,000 to be awarded as Junior Scholarships. The criteria for eligibility is to have been accepted at a college, junior college, or continuing education program beyond high school. The Junior must have participated in AKC Events and be a current member of an AKC Club. The application can be found on the AKC Web Site. The Scholarship Applications must be submitted by March 1, 2017.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

Featured Juniors

Grace Freeman

I began showing dogs at the age of nine in my county's 4-H program. After being successful in the 4-H shows, I wanted to expand my horizons and joined the AKC. In AKC, I have competed in Jr. Showmanship, Conformation, Rally and Agility.

Megan Quast

One meaningful achievement that I am very proud of was the earning of my Master Title as a Junior Handler through the American Kennel Club (AKC) dog hunt tests. The process of training and performing at the tests taught me not only the intricacies of dog training, but it provided a pathway for me to develop many new skills that helped me mature and grow from a timid little girl into a more independent, confident, and responsible young adult.

Abigail Vines

My name is Abigail Vines and I have been showing dogs since 2008. I began in 4-H and only participated in one AKC show a year, as 4-H shows were more reasonable to go to as a beginner. However, about three years into showing, I decided that I wanted to further my experience by showing in more AKC Junior Showmanship competitions. By my fifth year of showing, I decided to stop showing in 4-H and push myself to show like a professional in AKC shows.

Zia Zografos

I’ve been involved in the dog show community for two years now. I have my mother to thank for this, as she suggested I try showing, since I might enjoy it. At the time I was strictly a dedicated cat lover (still am), but I thought what was the harm in trying something new. So we packed up the old dog-show-mobile and drove for two days up north into Oregon. That trip really inspired me to show more. When we got back home, I started going to classes and joined Junior Handling.

Junior Photo Gallery

2016 AKC Juniors Obedience Classic, Beginner Novice- 1st, Emily Wagoner with Max (All American Dog); 2nd, Matelyn Cobban with Willard (Newfoundland); 3rd, Kayla Byrd with Teddy (Havanese); 4th, Hailey Dalton with Justin (Labrador Retriever)

2016 AKC Juniors Obedience Classic, Preferred Novice- 1st, Brittaney Allen with Ollie (All American Dog); 2nd, Matelyn Cobban with Flash (Spinone Italiano); 3rd, Spencer Pardee with Teddy (Poodle); 4th, Olivia Catherine Hernandez with Cali (All American Dog)

2016 AKC Juniors Obedience Classic, Preferred Open - 1st, Emily Wagoner with Peeta (Belgian Tervuren); 2nd, Avery Adams with Spark (Border Collie); 3rd, Hope Peavey with Jack (Australian Shepherd); 4th, Abigail Stark with Fuji (Shetland Sheepdog)