In my career as vet, TV presenter and pet food entrepreneur I have faced many challenges. From dealing with dangerous pets to trying to appear cool and calm on live TV and negotiating a good deal with the big supermarkets, there have been many tricky situations to deal with since I left university 14 years ago. However some of the most demanding – and stressful – challenges I’ve had to deal with have not been those posed by aggressive dogs or intimidating supermarket executives, it’s been the terrifying experience of judging fun dog shows!
Trying to select a worthy winner in these classes is hard enough, but then having to deliver the devastating news that little Tricky Woo hasn’t made the top three of the dog with the cutest nose to little Tommy is almost impossible. With usually only 3 rosettes to give out, there are usually at least 10 disappointed owners left wondering why the nasty vet from the telly didn’t pick their dog, and this makes the decision making that much harder – especially so when there are children involved.
At the Paws in the Park event in Cheltenham a couple of weekends ago I was asked to judge the ‘Best Junior Handler’ category and my heart immediately sank. This is the worst nightmare for a judge at one of these events – lots of lovely children with their beloved pets trying their best to impress with their dog handling skills – and one mean vet having to disappoint the vast majority of them!
In these situations the best one can hope for is that there will be one or two entrants who are clearly the most worthy winners. This makes the decision making process that much less stressful and also generally makes the disappointment for the rest of the field a bit easier to take. Thankfully on Sunday this was the case and it was clear that a little boy called Gabriel and his dog Jazz were the obvious candidates for the top prize. Gabriel was one of the youngest handlers in the class, and Jazz one of the largest dogs, so it was all the more impressive how he managed to control the dog and even got him to perform a faultless sit, stay and recall manoeuvre.
With the ‘Best Junior Handler’ class out of the way it was time to turn my attention to the next category which was ‘Best Senior Dog’ and here again I was very relieved to find an obvious candidate for the top spot. A little terrier called Millie made her entrance onboard a homemade dog wheelchair, and her owner proceeded to explain all the medical problems Millie had faced in her 18 years and how well she was still doing despite suffering from kidney problems, arthritis and various skin lumps.
By the end of the day I was exhausted and very thankful that the dog show season is drawing to a close – I’m not sure my nerves will take too many more days like this!
