There are many ways to show a dog.  Styles and customs of each country and each breed vary.  One of the many qualities that a good handler must have is to adapt – adapt to the weather circumstances, the size of the ring, humor of the dog, etc..  In the USA it is estimated that the judge has 2.5 minutes to evaluate each dog.  What does this mean?  It means that judging is an ephemeral and fleeting process that does not give room for second chances. That is why the handler must adapt to any problem and circumstance in no more than two seconds.  If his dog begins to gallop, he must decrease the speed immediately.  If his dog gets scared by something, it must be calmed as quickly as possible.

Another of the qualities of a good handler is to be "invisible". I like to describe it as background music that accompanies the speaker, which in this case is our dog.  The attention should be focused on our speaker, the dog, and the volume of this music should be very, very low. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to use an invisible leash? Well, of course, but we have not yet managed to invent it!

For the purposes of understanding, let us imagine that we carry out an experiment:   In a large room we put 100 people with 100 tables, each containing 3 kilos of clay, and we ask these people to make a sculpture of a beautiful horse, regardless of the talent of each person.  I can assure you that 95% of the horses will be free of saddles, riders, and any type of reins. This is because, by nature, the human eye tends to find more beauty in “clean” lines.  A lack of hindrance is more expressive.

With that principle I come to the subject of this article.  I like to handle my Beagles by removing the leash all the time they are stacked, both on the table and on the floor. You have to think of the handler as an artist, a creator who every time he poses his dog will be molding his dog to create something beautiful, aesthetic and with the standard in mind. Will the act of removing the collar and the leash make our dog have a longer neck? No. Will it make him look more angulated? No. But what we are going to achieve is to add what I call the “Wow Factor”. I try to press that little button that all humans, including the judge, possesses;  that brief impulse that we have when something surprises us in a positive way. If in a class of four our dog is considered by the judge as number four it won’t help a bit.  He did not like our dog, period.  But if the judge is hesitating between putting our dog between first and second place the "wow factor" takes center stage since with this we achieve a greater degree of communication with the judge, and that kind of empathy will help the judge choose our dog over one with the same qualities but who lacks the Wow Factor.

Now, how is it done? Well, the first thing to think about is the material with which we are working, that is, our dog.  To carry out this practice we must have a solid temperament and a dog that already has some experience in the ring. After placing the dog on the table or choosing the place on the floor where we are going to put it, the first thing to do will be to hold the head firmly and gently by the muzzle.  Regardless of whether our fingers are below and above it,
place the 4 legs in the position where the angles and the back look the best possible.  At this point we must wait for the judge to finish evaluating the dog before us and approximately 10 seconds before the judge's eyes reach our dog,

Boom!  we display our magic.  We hold the dog only by the back of the right lip with our right hand, trying to collect with our two smallest fingers all the excess skin of the neck.  And with the left hand, in a natural and fluid movement we slide the collar or leash over the head of the dog's head and let it rest on our right wrist. Then we position the head at the angle that we consider to be the best.  When I say angle I mean to move the head slightly downwards and slightly to the left and then we hold the tail in the right position and we are all set, quickly and smoothly in under ten seconds.

It is very important both that the dog is stable and that he is well familiar with the procedure so that for no reason will he try to escape.  And just as important is that the handler has the necessary skill to both remove and replace the collar in a discrete and graceful way – fluidly and naturally, giving the appearance that it is something you do 10 times a day. Many times showing a dog is about taking our chances.  Will this technique work with all the judges? Of course not, but it's worth a try. You should try to achieve empathy with the judge and the most important thing is to always give a positive, confident image with good sportsmanship and without any arrogance. Communication with our dog should be what we enjoy the most. It will allow us to have a good time regardless of the result. I will end with a question: Is there anything more wonderful than communication between a dog and its owner?

Maybe I can talk to you about it in the short future

Until next time dear Beagles lovers