The young boy jumped with joy as American Kennel Club (AKC) Judge Johnny Shoemaker leaned over and explained the procedures of the pee wee class at the Tucson Kennel Club in November 2018. Austin Garner listened as he held a soft rolled leather show lead attached to a black Labrador retriever named Darla and smiled at the judge. Elaine DeLucia, who is one co-owner of the black beauty and a friend of Austin’s grandmother, loosely held a second leash attached to Darla just in case the youngster needed help. He didn’t.
Austin happily trotted around the ring with Darla and “gave the crowd a thumbs up. The crowd responded with cheers,” DeLucia recalls. He stacked (posed) Darla and then took turns sharing string cheese bait with her. When the trio left the ring, he thanked DeLucia and offered to share the remainder of the slobbered-on cheese.
“This was his first time ever in the ring and he was thrilled,” recalls DeLucia. “This will always be one of my happiest dog show memories.”
Once again, Shoemaker had achieved his goal to ensure that every child has lots of fun in the pee wee ring. He’s one of the AKC’s junior showmanship judges who also “judges” pee wee classes about ten times a year across the country.
He says he doesn’t judge but mentors youngsters in this noncompetitive class designed for children five to nine years old. The exuberant, energetic Shoemaker also judges all toy, non-sporting, and sporting breeds as well as twelve hound breeds in conformation rings nationwide and internationally. His favorite class to judge? Pee wees!
Years ago, he noticed how bored young children were at dog shows and thought they needed to become engaged at shows before they discovered other sports. They were too young (under nine years of age) to enter junior showmanship classes but needed something fun to do that was noncompetitive and safe for the dog and child. He also knew that Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) shows offered pee wee classes.
As an AKC delegate, he submitted a detailed proposal for the pee wee class to the AKC’s Board of Directors. They rejected his idea. Undeterred, he tried again about six months later. This time the board approved his proposal but required that a youngster’s guardian sign a release of liability before the child participated to satisfy liability concerns and give permission to photograph the youngster as part of a group class picture, sans dogs, for promotion purposes.
In 2015, the Somerset Hills (NJ) Kennel Club offered the first AKC pee wee class in the United States, according to Shoemaker. The Puyallup Valley (WA) Dog Fanciers Club followed with the west coast’s first pee wee class. Both clubs continue to offer the class at their shows, he adds.
Shoemaker says that AKC dog clubs held a total of 187 pee wee classes at their all-breed or specialty shows in 2019. So far this year, eighty clubs have applied to the AKC to hold these classes.
He explains that the average class size is fifteen to sixteen youngsters, although Woofstock [Contra Costa (CA) Kennel Club] had twenty-nine participants and twenty-three at the Palm Springs (CA) Kennel Club show.
Shoemaker quickly adds that it doesn’t matter how many children participate. The program is designed for clubs to make the class as fun as possible for youngsters.
He offers these tips to clubs to conduct a successful pee wee class:
- Pre show, promote the class with flyers in area schools and contact local 4-H clubs
- Schedule the class on a Saturday to draw more participants and spectators
- Conduct the class at noon to attract more of an audience
- Announce the class time at the show in the morning
- Allow participants to sign up even after the class begins and
- Handout goodie bags to class participants and sponsor a pee wee pizza party or offer sandwiches to the youngsters after the class
Shoemaker says that he tells the audience at the beginning of the class to applaud and shout to make every child’s experience fun. Each dog/handler team participates separately.
He acts “silly,” runs, claps, hollers, and waves his arms as the child-dog team trots around the ring. His encouragement works, he says.
If youngsters aren’t smiling when they enter the ring, they are “99% of the time” when they leave, he adds. And they also depart with a ribbon or rosette, plus a goodie bag.
When a dog towers over a youngster, Shoemaker wants the adult and the child to both have leashes attached to the dog to ensure that the canine remains under control. He notes that there haven’t been any accidents or dog fights in the ring.
When the child-adult-dog team enters the ring, he explains the ring procedure. He then asks the child-adult team to trot the dog around the ring and pose the dog before another trot— up and back.
After the class concludes, all the children enjoy a pizza party or sandwiches and pose for a group photo. Shoemaker’s objective to provide youngsters with a fun experience at dog shows and hook them on the dog fancy is working.
Kate
Julie Oghigian, a veterinarian in Bozeman, MT, says her daughter Kate started attending dog shows when she was just six weeks old.
As soon as she could walk, Kate wanted to show in pee wees. Still too young for that class, she first interacted with Oghigian’s friends’ dogs at shows and then started practicing “showing” dogs by gaiting them outside of rings.
Now six years old, Kate has shown in six pee wee classes. Oghigian says that her daughter, who loves dressing up for shows, has gained confidence thanks to the pee wee experience. She speaks to more people and has made friends with other pee wee exhibitors.
At the Labrador Retriever Club,Inc.’s (LRC’s) national specialty last October, Kate showed “her” black Labrador alone for the first time. Proud mom watched her daughter “march” Rogue around the ring with the confidence of someone who knew exactly how to show a dog.
Oghigian believes the class teaches youngsters to learn how to show and work hard, train, and build relationships with their dogs. The class also instills confidence in them. At home, Kate is responsible for feeding their dogs twice a day and does other canine-related chores. She also practices with Rogue, mostly on her own, Oghigian says.
Sean
Two other youngsters, Bridget Tuttle and Sean Wilson Jr. also showed “their” Labradors in the pee wee class at the LRC’s banquet. An enthusiastic audience clapped loudly as each child gaited their dog.
Helen Wilson introduced her grandson Sean, who is Austin’s cousin, to shows by entering him in a pee wee class at a match (practice show) in Tucson, AZ. The five-year-old had so much fun showing “his” Labrador Tank that he wanted to show again, she recalls.
That’s why she took him to the LRC national specialty last fall so he could show her friend Karen Turner’s Evee (MBISS GCHB CH. Amethyst Twas The Night After) in the pee wee class.
Another friend, Terry McFadden, asked Sean, who’d turned six, if he’d like to show her seven-year-old Labrador Miley in the conformation ring in the veteran sweepstakes class. That meant competing against dogs shown by adults. When the judge handed him a second-place ribbon, Wilson knew that her grandson was hooked on showing dogs.
The next day, he showed Miley again in veteran sweepstakes. Miley won her class and Best Veteran in sweepstakes! Since then, Sean has shown Miley again and helped her earn points towards her silver grand championship. McFadden also has entrusted him with co-ownership of Miley!
Wilson says Sean will continue to show in pee wees for the next few years until he can compete in junior showmanship, and in the conformation ring. He’s very serious about showing and practices whenever possible. She’s noticed that he’s gained confidence since showing in pee wees.
Ansley
Four-year-old Ansley Ruark of Peyton, CO isn’t quite old enough to officially show in the AKC’s pee wee classes. That’s why she participates in the United Kennel Club (UKC) pee wee program which allows children as young as two years into the ring. Michelle Ruark says she entered her daughter in pee wees to help relieve her boredom at shows when she (mom) competes with her Labradors.
“To be honest, she was more interested in showing off her armband than her dog,” Ruark recalls about her then three-year-old daughter’s debut in the pee wee class. That’s changed. Ansley now loves shows and “her” yellow Labrador Clipper has become her best friend.
At UKC shows, more than one child may participate at a time in pee wee classes but each must have a parent accompany them with their dog. UKC judges ask the child (and adult) to trot the dog around the ring, pose the dog, and then gait the canine down and back. Ruark says the children receive a ribbon or rosette and sometimes a goodie bag.
Since showing in pee wees, Ansley has bonded with Clipper and exhibits more confidence.
“She’s a really, really, shy child,” and used to stand behind her when Ruark spoke to others. Now Ansley stands next to her and even talks to new people, especially those with dogs, her mother says.
Ansley helps groom her family’s Labradors, including trimming nails and cleaning ears, before shows.
Ruark feels strongly that the “sport of purebred dogs is dying and anything we can do to bring new light to it would be amazing.” That’s another reason she encourages her daughter to show in pee wee classes.
Jeff
In 1996, Jeff Beran showed his mom’s Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever for the first time in a pee wee class at an Australian Shepherd Club of America match show in Wisconsin. Patty Beran and her husband knew Jeff wanted to show and needed to keep him from being bored at shows. But at age three, he was way too young to compete in AKC junior showmanship, so he showed his mom’s dog and a few years later, his own canine only in conformation classes in the United States, and in pee wees and conformation classes in Canada.
Beran says the pee wee experience boosted Jeff’s confidence and helped him learn patience, and the importance of preparing oneself and dog for the ring. Other people asked him to show their dogs in the conformation ring because he was such a good handler, she notes. He later showed in junior showmanship which gave him confidence and a sense of pride, and taught him good sportsmanship.
Jeff was just seven when his parents gave him Sagewood Ginger Snap (Jinger). He trained and showed Jinger to her AKC conformation championship, companion dog obedience degree, and working certificate title. Quite a feat!
Shoemaker is thankful that the pee wee classes are so successful. “The class is very rewarding and very good for our sport,” he says. “The pee wee event is very important to me.”
For more information about pee wee classes, see:
https://www.akc.org/sports/conformation/junior-showmanship/pee-wee-special-attraction-guidelines/
https://www.ukcdogs.com/docs/rulebooks/2019-junior-rulebook.pdf
Related posts: https://www.caryunkelbach.com/dog-competitions-teach-valuable-life-lessons-children/
https://www.caryunkelbach.com/junior-showmanship-decades-ago/
I would love to go watch the Pee Wee class. How fun!
Bet you children would love to watch and participate too!
Heartwarming and uplifting. I’m going to a dog show this coming weekend and will look to see if they’ve included a Pee Wee class. I’d love to watch one.
Thanks Ann! Do check out the shows to see if they have a pee wee class, mostly likely on Saturday. See if you can meet Austin and Sean and say hi to them!
Okay, I confess, I went straight to the photos in this blog before reading the article and I was not disappointed! Love the article too, but the photos are precious.
Glad the kiddos’ pictures melted your heart! Thanks for your comments, Patty!
This is a wonderful article and thank you so much for your kind words and the kids and responsible adults for making this a great success….not just in the amount of pee wee events but for the great fun that these kids have in the ring. Thanks so much.
So glad you enjoyed the article, Judge Shoemaker! Your perseverance and hard work are appreciated by many- parents, youngsters and other members of the dog fancy. Thanks so much for sharing your story and for making the pee wee ring so fun for youngsters!
Absolutely fabulous to engage youngsters engaging in showing dogs. Great going!
Thanks for comments Marion! The youngsters love this class!
Great experience for kids, not only working with their dogs, but also getting used to being in front of an audience.
So true Kelly! The experience offers them a fun way to learn responsibility and to gain confidence!