NOHS 2020 – Questions & Answers
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By Caroline Coile
Once a year I ask my NOHS counterparts for their suggestions about how to make the competition better. They are never shy with their ideas. Herewith are the major ones:
Who Can Compete?
Complaints about who is eligible for NOHS competition continue, and always will. But there seem to be fewer complaints about pros masquerading as non-pros in order to show in NOHS than in the past. Perhaps people have given up complaining—there were several that lamented the fact that even when they reported violations to the AKC, complete with documentation, they felt the AKC failed to act upon them. My personal feeling is that if you can fly under the radar and pretend not to be a pro, you must not be enough of a pro to care about. And that any self-respecting true professional handler would never “stoop” to pretending to not be one. Yes, I am sure there are owner-handlers who take money under the table. I just don’t happen to think they are worth worrying about.
Assistants: Another recurring complaint is about allowing juniors who are assistants to pros to compete—or rather allowing them to compete but not allowing adults doing the same thing to compete. I adamantly believe no junior should be cut out of NOHS. But I also believe that goes for any non-professional, no matter their age. Most assistants spend their days cleaning up after dogs, bathing and blow drying, loading and unloading—-yes, they may be getting handling tips from their employer, but great! Why should we discourage this in either juniors or adults? A very few assistants reach the stage of being semi-pros. These tend to work for the super handlers who have multiple dogs in every group or BIS line-up. At that point, I suspect they’re too busy to show in NOHS, and I would also expect their employers to say, “No, you are beyond that” and use some self-regulation. Just as you don’t see the super handlers of the past showing in NOHS even though their five-year limit is well past, there has to be some self-control.
Allowing assistants to compete would do away with the untenable definition of what “assisting a professional handler” means. The rules state: “Professional handler, household members and current assistants to professional handlers in conformation are not eligible to exhibit in this competition. A current assistant is defined as anyone employed by a professional handler on a full-time basis, or assisting a professional handler at the show or any show during the cluster/weekend,” but that, “Current assistants that are eligible to compete in Junior Showmanship (meet age and amateur status requirements) may participate in NOHS.”
What is “assisting a professional handler?” Is it holding a dog ringside? Catching a loose dog? Helping unload a crate? Taking a dog back into the ring? Traveling together? Helping to groom? Setting up together? So many NOHS exhibitors are afraid of breaking the rules they refuse to do any of these, all the while feeling like NOHS is forcing them to be bad sports because they can never lend a hand. Queries to the AKC reveal they never meant this so literally. They respond that doing one or more of these actions is fine, but that it is up to the exhibitor to determine how much is too much? Yeah, that’ll work. How about either just let all assistants compete, or define an assistant as somebody who is paid by a professional on that day.
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Posted by AnthonyA
on Mar 3 2020. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
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