Seasoned Campaigners – Landon Livingston and Nancy Shaw

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274 – August, 2021

By Sarah Montague · Photos ©Winter Churchill

Among the junior handlers showing this year was Landon Livingston, 10-year-old son of respected handler Clint Livingston—who was sidelined by health issues in June and was unable to make it to Westminster—and handler Karen Livingston. Landon was kind enough to grant me an interview shortly before the junior preliminaries, which shows the kind of courtesy and sang-froid that will hold him in good stead in his chosen career. And it is his chosen career: “I think I’m going to be in dogs my whole life,” he said. At Westminster, he was handling (both in Juniors and in Breed) field spaniel Apollo (GCHB Killara Trio Love You To The Moon & Back TD CA Rato) who he co-owns with his parents and Karen Balinski.

Landon says he’s learned from both parents. When we spoke, he’d already finished one dog, a Brittany called Mustang in 2020 (“a little weird,” he says of this challenging season) and says the key to good work in the ring is “feeling their temperaments.”

There have been some competitive high points, like Mustang’s first Best In Show, but mostly, what Landon loves about showing is that “it’s something you can do with your dogs.”

Landon described Apollo as “amazing.” After our interview, I watch his segment of the juniors competition. He was focused and attentive, and oblivious to his personal claque—four young boys cheering and hooting on the sidelines.

Landon didn’t make it to the finals this year, but for a young man in the fancy for life, this is just one stop on a long and satisfying road. And happily, he’ll be joining his whole family—Clint Livingston is back on his feet—of course, in a ring somewhere.

Lucky Lady: Nancy Shaw

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274 – August, 2021

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