Meet the Junior Handler Kennedy Green

Meet the Junior Handler Kennedy Green

My name is Kennedy Green and I’m 10 years old and live in San Francisco, California, with my Mom, Dad, 4 Pugs, and a Pekingese. I also have an older brother and sister but they are grown up and live on their own. Doing anything dog-related is always my favorite activity. I love going to dog shows but also just love playing with my dogs at home.

1. Where do you live? Where do you go to school?

Kennedy Green: I live in San Francisco and go to school at St. Stephen School in San Francisco.

2. Do you have any hobbies or interests apart from purebred dogs? Do you have a job?

Kennedy Green: I do gymnastics, but I don’t work because I’m only 10.

3. Have you grown up in a doggy family? What is your breed(s)?

Kennedy Green: I grew up in house full of Pugs. Pugs and Pekingese are my breeds.

4. How were you introduced to Junior Showmanship? When did you start competing?

Kennedy Green: I started competing in Junior Showmanship when I was nine years old. I started going to dog shows with my Mom who showed Pugs, and met Bella Ruffoni who showed her Pug in Juniors. She was really nice and encouraging of me, and because of her encouragement I started showing my Pug, Lucky.

5. What do you remember about the first time you showed as a Junior?

Kennedy Green: I remember everyone cheering for me as I started my go around and then everyone watching got really quiet. I showed outside in grass the first time I showed and I remember stepping in a hole in the grass on my down and back. But I still won my class that day.

6. How do you prepare your dog and yourself for the ring? Any rituals? Any good luck charms?

Kennedy Green: I groom my dog a lot. My Juniors dog now is a Pekingese named Lincoln, so getting him ready for the ring is kinda something I have to do every day. On a day that we are showing, I brush him out and I might do some trimming on him, and I do a lot of fluffing and play with him and his little yellow duck, which is his favorite toy that he only gets to play with at shows. Lincoln is my good luck charm.

7. What’s it like in the ring when the pressure is on? Do you have a secret for handling the nerves?

Kennedy Green: I really try to focus on my dog when I feel pressure or like there is a lot at stake. I don’t really do anything different for big shows. I just try to stay focused on my dog.

8. Do you have a mentor in the sport? Have you assisted any Professional Handlers?

Kennedy Green: My mentors are Lori & Mark Stephen who are the reason that I have a Pekingese, which has always been my dream dog. I love getting to help them at shows and I learn so much from them. Also Bella who always helps me, Jody Davidson, my coach, and Candace Heath who let me show her Pekingese in Juniors before I got Lincoln.

9. Are there any wins for which you are particularly proud? Any memorable losses?

Kennedy Green: I am really proud of getting a 2nd place placement in a really, really big class of Open Juniors in Orlando this past December. I’m also very proud of getting a Best Junior win in Palm Springs. I try not to remember the losses and just focus on the wins.

10. How do you accentuate your dog’s breed type in the ring? How do you try to stand out?

Kennedy Green: Well, there is a lot that I do when showing my Pekingese. I always keep him on ice in and out of the ring at shows to make sure he doesn’t get too hot. I do a lot of brushing and floofing in the ring because the coat and head are such important parts of a Peke. I also gait him very differently than most kids do with their dogs. We go much slower and I always drop the lead so that the judge can see the slight roll in the dog and that it is effortless. I have a Pekingese, so I kinda stand out. Not many Juniors show a Pekingese.

11. Is your breed generally well-suited for a Junior Showmanship career?

Kennedy Green: No, not really, but it’s the perfect breed for me. You really don’t see many Pekingese in Junior Showmanship, probably because they are a lot of work and they have to be shown in a very different way. Pekingese can be stubborn and really won’t do anything they don’t want to do – like walk. So, you have to work with them differently than most other breeds. You have to be extremely gentle and make everything about them. I have to ask Lincoln to do things with me. I can’t tell him. And if he decides he’s not going to do it there isn’t always that much I can do to change his mind.

It can also look like there isn’t much to do when you show a Pekingese because you walk in a little circle, you don’t really stack your dog the way most Juniors do, and you don’t even do a full down and back most of the time. But getting your Peke to walk at the right speed to show the right structure can be hard. You also have to be constantly fluffing and fixing their coat all the time to make sure they look the way they should. And a big part of showing a Pekingese is keeping them safe and making sure they don’t overheat. Because they have so much coat they get really hot easily, so I always keep my dog on an ice pack and in the shade.

12. Are there any breeds that you haven’t yet shown but would like to some day?

Kennedy Green: I would really like to show a Chihuahua someday and maybe a Golden Retriever so that I can try running with a dog.

13. What can be done to encourage more young people to participate in Junior Showmanship?

Kennedy Green: I think that we should have trial shows, kinda like matches, where kids can come even if they don’t have a dog and learn about Junior Showmanship and Conformation. I know a lot of kids who would love to try showing a dog but don’t have a dog they can show or know how to get started.

14. Have you bred or co-bred a litter? If so, can you share what you’ve learned from the experience?

Kennedy Green: No, I haven’t bred or co-bred a litter.

15. Is breeding something that you’d like to pursue? Is breed preservation important to you?

Kennedy Green: Yes! I would love to breed Pekingese someday. I love the breed and you don’t see a lot of them.

16. What are your goals for the future? Do you see yourself continuing in the sport once you’ve aged-out?

Kennedy Green: My goals are to qualify for Westminster this year and to be Top 10 Toy in Juniors. And next year, I want to be a Master. I do think I will continue in the sport once I’ve aged-out, but that is still a long way away.

17. Can you share a word or two about your relationship with your current dog? What does s/he mean to you?

Kennedy Green: My dogs are everything to me. I have five dogs and have a special relationship with each of them, and they are my favorite part of every day.

18. Is there a funny story that you can share about your experiences as a Junior Handler?

Kennedy Green: The first time I showed Lincoln in Juniors he refused to walk. He didn’t take a single step the entire time we were in the ring. The judge was very patient with both of us and let us keep trying, but he refused to move—as Pekingese will do. Finally, the judge told me to just pick my dog up and carry him to the back of the line, which I did, but I went around the entire ring on the mats carrying him instead of cutting across the ring, which everyone watching seemed to think was funny. We ended up actually getting Reserve Best Junior that day.