Didn’t You Used To Be Will Alexander?

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102 – February, 2024

By Will Alexander

It’s been almost four years since I officially retired from professional handling. I know there was that earlier time when I announced my retirement. My hip was so bad I just couldn’t drag my carcass around the ring. I received so many accolades, I started wondering when I had passed away. It truly was overwhelming. Makes me blush just thinking about them all. Anyway, I had my hip replacement surgery and I felt like a million bucks again. Well, a hundred thousand anyway. And when the pandemic shut everything down, I really got to rehab. When the world opened back up again, I was fit as a fiddle–to a degree. But not working for a year, well, I wasn’t eating Kraft® dinner but things could have been better. Shows started up and I did what I knew best. I started showing dogs. Now, I have really retired. Not the Mike Tyson kind, for real this time–I promise.

Now, I am embarking on my judging career and I really do find it satisfying; I wasn’t sure I would. I spoke to many retired handlers who blazed the trail before me. The consistent answer I would get is they missed taking the best dog home and they missed the competition. After all, that was a big thing to handlers no matter the level. We are very competitive, in everything. Playing cards, golf, even rock/paper/scissors. We want to win. It almost gets absurd. I remember staying up all night with Adam playing video games. Neither of us wanted to stop if the other had won the previous game, so we just waited for the first to tire. I’m quite sure it was me. Off track again…so, those handlers turned judges…they seemed to have come to terms with the change. I see them now and they are flourishing in their new careers. I bet the competitive streak still appears when they are judging. Who can be the first to find the next great one, etc.?

Click here to read the complete article
102 – February, 2024

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Posted by AnthonyA on Feb 13 2024. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.