On July 1st 2011 the first of our 60 juniors from Florida and Georgia arrived at the International Palms Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The location was great for the convention rooms, the hotel rooms, and the relaxing afterhours amenities. The hotel was extremely accommodating, and had all the events in a localized area that was stress-free. The junior’s and their parents were provided rooms with monies raised by the generosity of multiple all breed and specialty dog clubs from Florida and Georgia, individual, corporate and company sponsorships. Twenty seven volunteers provided their expertise in areas such as Judging, grooming, Professional handling, peer mentoring and fashion assistance. And though we were in the land of Disney, this was no “Mickey Mouse” operation! This was an action packed, fun filled, educational 3 day experience for all involved.

Friday was check in and registration for the juniors. The volunteers arranged the Check In room including the 3 racks of clothes for the Junior Clothing Swap. We had a pizza party Friday evening.

Saturday arrived early with a 7am check in and an 8am start. The program included a general session for all juniors including AKC rules and regulations overview, sportsmanship review, and show attire recommendations. Some of our teachers modeledclothing and shoeswhich encompassed the good, the bad and the real ugly. The comedy had an everlasting effect!

Following this session the Novice group, broken into 3 segments, received a tutorial from Judges and Professional Handlers. The Open Group attended a grooming seminar. The second shift reversed the order. Parents and teachers got seriously involved indemonstrations of"what not to do" in the ring. Nothing like a visual to drive these points home! Too slow movement, too fast movement, covering dogs, dogs on the wrong side, and running up on dogs were only samples of the egregious behavior met with laughter and loud applause! Not to be outdone by his older peers, an ‘aged out’ junior was texting in the ring while showing his dog!

The juniors arrived ringside promptly in show clothes with Open Juniors exhibiting and being judged first. Since the Open classes showed first, the Novices were able to observe the ‘upper echelon’ at work. The children learned a great deal by observing their peers. Judges, handlers and parents were able to see great improvements in all of the juniors after their morning class tutorial.

Evaluation sheets were given to the juniors by each of the three judges in the ring. The evaluation sheets enabled the juniors to see their strengths and areas to improve. The evaluation was based on a range from ‘excellent’ to ‘needs improvement.’ Getting more than one opinion was valuable for the juniors as it lended more credence to what needs to be improved. The goal for the seminar was to engage juniors in an educational experience that was fun and provided feedback. We believe we accomplished this task. I could not have summed it up better, one of our juniors made this comment: “it was so much fun!!! I learned a lot !!!”

After the Open first place winner’s and Novice first place winner’s had been awarded, all 6 class winner’s went back into the ring with a junior selected panel of 3 judge’s to show off their skills for the award of Best Junior and Reserve Best Junior. Judge Arvind DeBraganca chose the sophisticated “T” pattern for his juniors to demonstrate. It was a very tough competition! With much suspense, Reserve went to Christina Worley and Best Junior went to Rylee Elliot.
The sponsors made it possible for each junior to return home with a goodie bag. Placements in all classes had lovely prizes and the Reserve and Best Junior went home with an armful of gifts donated by various sponsors, including a beautiful sterling silver. A lovely handmade catalogue was distributed to all attendees, in which all sponsors, contributors and dog clubs were recognized. We cannot thank them all enough for their participation in making this event happen; the juniors and their families will be talking about this event for a very long time. One Junior Mom had this to say about their day: “As the parent of one junior and friend of several more, I found it to be a fun filled and rewarding weekend. The kids and adults had a great time and learned TONS. I was happy to have been a part of the event and have helped. I would be willing to do anything I can to continue to support the next generation!”

Best Junior Rylee Elliot. See more photos of the event in the Junior Photo Gallery.

One Judge had this to say: “I can say that I witnessed a great group of children that were well-behaved. It was amusing to watch the kids walking their dogs, baggies in hand, and being overseen by their Moms and Dads. Hotel guests were overheard talking about all the juniors and their dogs, and I never heard a bad word. Many were excited to see the group, asking questions about their dogs and what they do. Hotel Guests were encouraged to pet the dogs and interact with them. What a great advertisement for our sport! Their enthusiasm was atomic in strength, and absolutely addicting! Hotel guests went away knowing what camaraderie we have in our sport, how we treat our children and our dogs. It was wonderful to see the children helping each other. They chatted and practiced together.When not in classes or practice sessions, the children ate their meals together, walked their dogs together. Many new friendships were made; email addresses and phone numbers exchanged. What made me smile, was over hearing two juniors saying: "hey, are you going to the next show? Oh, I'm glad, I'll meet you there!" That's something that our sport brings to the table: everlasting friendships. Our friends might be miles away, but we can ALWAYS meet at the dog show! Am I glad that my daughter and I went? Yessiree.She's meeting her new friend...at the next dog show!”

Juniors are the backbone of the future, whether dog show exhibitors, breeders, handlers or owners. We need to support juniors in their endeavor to continue in a sport that is slowly dying or dominated by older women. We have to encourage the juniors to pursue a subjective sport, which can be costly to parents. This sport teaches responsibility, manners, sportsmanship and above all; responsible dog ownership. SSHGA felt the Junior Jamboree was a way to contribute to the future, theirs and ours! One Junior Judge had this to say about his experience: “Having the opportunity to participate was not only invigorating, but it was a chance to help create the future of the sport. It is good to see so many children AND parents who are willing and wanting of knowledge. SSHGA provided a medium that allowed generations to interact for the benefit of all. I would gladly participate in all future events and would encourage clubs and cluster groups to follow suit.” And a Professional Handler’s words: “What a great learning experience for one and all. It was wonderful to see the older juniors helping some of the younger ones. I will always be at every jamboree to help where I can. Time well spent. They are the future in the sport of showing dogs. Great job to one and all.”

Personally, I was truly inspired by the team work of all of the volunteers. Everyone donated their time and experience for the singular goal of making this event a wonderful and memorable experience for juniors, CUDOS!

See photos of the event in the Junior Photo Gallery.