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I'm curious....

season

Well-Known Member
I was watching some of the dog show over the last couple days. I don't show or have any desire to. But I noticed that many of the handlers were female. Is that simply a coincidence or is there something more behind it? I was also wondering of most of these handlers were also the breeders of hired by the breeder to do it?


Carpe Diem
 

sjdavenport

Well-Known Member
I think the gender gap extends to just about any career involving companion animals. Veterinarians (my class has maybe 15 men and 100 women in it), vet techs and other animal hospital employees, dog trainers and behaviorists - all overwhelmingly female. People who participate and compete with their dogs in various sports (schutzhund type sports perhaps being the exception????)? Also mostly female. I don't know the reason behind it. I'd like to hear any theories. As for the handlers in dog shows being the breeder or not, at televised events like that, they usually point out if the handler is also the breeder/owner/handler. I think it might be less common. Hopefully someone who actually has experience in dog showing (vs my zero experience) will have a better answer about that.
 

season

Well-Known Member
I think the gender gap extends to just about any career involving companion animals. Veterinarians (my class has maybe 15 men and 100 women in it), vet techs and other animal hospital employees, dog trainers and behaviorists - all overwhelmingly female. People who participate and compete with their dogs in various sports (schutzhund type sports perhaps being the exception????)? Also mostly female. I don't know the reason behind it. I'd like to hear any theories. As for the handlers in dog shows being the breeder or not, at televised events like that, they usually point out if the handler is also the breeder/owner/handler. I think it might be less common. Hopefully someone who actually has experience in dog showing (vs my zero experience) will have a better answer about that.

Thx. Great points. Something I never really paid much attention to (doesn't affect me one way or another) until I saw 9 out of 10 handlers in the CC ring were female. Yeah, I'd like to hear some theories too. I know there isn't a set in stone answer but that makes it more interesting in my book.


Carpe Diem
 

Hiraeth

Well-Known Member
Very few top level dogs at Westminster are breeder or owner handled dogs. They are nearly all handled by professional handlers. It looks like a simple enough thing - who can't run around a ring a few times and stack their dogs, right? But it actually takes a TON of skill and practice to be a good handler. Professionals handle dogs for a living and are likely to be able to get that something "extra" out of a dog in the ring that a less experienced owner/breeder couldn't.

Here's a pretty good list of reasons owner/breeder handlers don't do as well in the ring. There's a lot of stuff you can do that will make a judge not even consider your dog: OWNER-HANDLERS: ADVICE FROM PROS AND PEERS

Beyond that, I think some politics come into play. If your dog is being handled by someone who is really well known in the breed, then that lends your dog credibility because the person wouldn't be handling it unless they thought it may win.

About male/female ratio: I think a few things play into it. Dog showing picked up popularity in the 70s/80s when many women were stay at home moms and men were the major part of the work force. So women had the time to train the dogs, get their fancy clothes on and go "show off their pretty dog" on the weekends. Conformation showing has a reputation for its sequinned dress-suit with knee-length hemline look, and I think many men probably get turned off because of the fashion aspect of it.

I think, because of those things, conformation showing is still viewed as somewhat un-manly (though that is changing) and I think many men aren't interested in it because of that. If you look at more typically "manly" dog sports like hunting, field work, etc, it is almost entirely dominated by men.

That being said, I watched the CCs and was actually surprised at the number of female handlers. At local shows, the handler split in many Molosser breeds is usually closer to 50/50, from what I've seen.
 

Joao M

Well-Known Member
I can´t say how it works in the US, but I´ve noticed that what Sjdavenport mentions is also reflected in this forum regular participants.
 

season

Well-Known Member
Very few top level dogs at Westminster are breeder or owner handled dogs. They are nearly all handled by professional handlers. It looks like a simple enough thing - who can't run around a ring a few times and stack their dogs, right? But it actually takes a TON of skill and practice to be a good handler. Professionals handle dogs for a living and are likely to be able to get that something "extra" out of a dog in the ring that a less experienced owner/breeder couldn't.Here's a pretty good list of reasons owner/breeder handlers don't do as well in the ring. There's a lot of stuff you can do that will make a judge not even consider your dog: OWNER-HANDLERS: ADVICE FROM PROS AND PEERSBeyond that, I think some politics come into play. If your dog is being handled by someone who is really well known in the breed, then that lends your dog credibility because the person wouldn't be handling it unless they thought it may win.About male/female ratio: I think a few things play into it. Dog showing picked up popularity in the 70s/80s when many women were stay at home moms and men were the major part of the work force. So women had the time to train the dogs, get their fancy clothes on and go "show off their pretty dog" on the weekends. Conformation showing has a reputation for its sequinned dress-suit with knee-length hemline look, and I think many men probably get turned off because of the fashion aspect of it.I think, because of those things, conformation showing is still viewed as somewhat un-manly (though that is changing) and I think many men aren't interested in it because of that. If you look at more typically "manly" dog sports like hunting, field work, etc, it is almost entirely dominated by men.That being said, I watched the CCs and was actually surprised at the number of female handlers. At local shows, the handler split in many Molosser breeds is usually closer to 50/50, from what I've seen.
Thank you....well said....makes total sense.