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to be strongly considered before holding a small Junior Handling Competition. We will continue
show can even be attempted. We are just going to review the situation over the coming months
to have to wait and see what happens! and will keep all our Members up to date with
any updates. In the meantime, we hope that our
The big question on a lot of the Junior Handler’s
Members and their families will stay safe and
minds is when they will be able to compete in
keep well.
Junior Handling again! After all, there is not
really any need for a judge to be in close contact
“Lockdown Lowdown”
with a Handler while judging Junior Handling.
The dog’s bite is always shown by the Junior In the last Online Edition of K9 News I asked
rather than the judge, and the judge has no rea- some of the Irish Junior Handlers to let me know
son to touch the dog (except perhaps to move a what they had been getting up to lately and to
dog’s leg to see if the handler notices, albeit not tell me a little bit about what has been keeping
particularly necessary), so maybe Junior Han- them occupied throughout their lockdown expe-
dling classes may not be too far away. Sadly, rience and their unexpected break from school
however, nobody seems to know yet just how far and dog shows! The reaction we got from this
away. We can only hope! We will all be waiting report was great, everyone was really interested
with bated breath to hear a steward calling our to see what their friends had been doing with
ring number into the ring and to feel as though their spare time! If you haven’t been featured
some element of normal life has been restored. yet don’t worry, I hope to contact more Junior
However, in the meantime, I am personally Handlers to feature in the next issue. Whether or
enjoying my spare time, training and walking my not you have featured already, if you have been
dogs, spending lots of time with friends (while getting up to anything exciting, started any new
social distancing of course) and enjoying the hobbies or have any cool stories you think other
(mostly) good weather! I hope you are all mak- Junior Handlers might be interested to hear
ing the most of the situation too and will be as about be sure to contact me!
enthusiastic as I will be when the shows return!

JHAI Update on COVID-19
The Junior Handler’s Association of Ireland
are continuing to receive frequent messages
from Junior Handlers and their parents who are
curious to know how the Covid19 Lockdown is
going to affect this year’s National Junior Han-
dling Finals. We appreciate that it is a huge
disappointment to many Juniors that they are
missing out on their time in Junior Handling,
especially for those who are coming towards the
end of their time in the sport.
Of course, the cancelling of shows was going
to impact on the number of points that Junior
Handler’s will be eligible to win throughout the
year. However, now that all the Irish Shows for
2020 have been cancelled, the Association’s Luca-May, Eli and Aria Walker
Committee will be forced to make a decision in – from County Kilkenny, handlers of Alaskan
relation to a 2020 Finals in the coming months. Malamutes, Siberian Huskies and Petit Basset
As the Annual Finals has taken place in recent Griffon Vendeen.
years in January, we do hope that we may be “We have been missing seeing all our friends at
able to stick with this arrangement and hold the dog shows and showing our dog’s but we are
2020 Finals in January 2021, but will await fur- having a lot of fun at home playing and hiking
ther communication from the Irish Kennel Club with our dog’s and we are looking forward to
and the committee of the Crufts International seeing everyone when shows start again.”

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K9 NEWS DIGITAL / JULY 2020