Senior Showmanship at the First Colony Cluster

The First Colony Cluster of Dog Shows held an especially important event in Doswell, Virginia, on Saturday, June 20, 2026 in the evening following Best in Show.

The Cluster, which includes the Gloucester Kennel Club of Virginia, Inc. and the Virginia Kennel Club, invited all exhibitors to share in a wonderful and complimentary spaghetti dinner, but even more importantly, provided “Dinner Entertainment!”

For everyone’s viewing pleasure, the Group ring hosted a SENIOR SHOWMANSHIP COMPETITION—judged by the amazing JUNIORS!

Who were the competitors you may ask?

None other than… “drum roll, please!”

• AKC President & CEO Gina DiNardo, with a lovely Doberman

• AKC Vice President Mari-Beth O’Neill, with a beautiful Saluki

• AKC Club Development Guy Fisher, with his Boxer

• AKC Reg. Handler Diego Garcia, with his amazing Beagle

• AKC Reg, Handler Ernesto Lara, with his impressive Russell Terrier

And many other “Oldies but Goodies” showing off their great dogs and extremely “well-practiced” handling skills!

The Class Categories were:

• Ages 50-60 AARP Class

• Ages 61-70 Social Security Class

• Ages 71 to “Older Than Dirt” Immortal Class

The Judges for the event were the exceptional and discerning Juniors who qualified for the “Best of the Best Competition” at the Cluster by winning Best Junior or Reserve Best Junior during the dog show weekend.

How did this event come to be, you may also ask?

During a cluster committee meeting, a spaghetti dinner was discussed which would be hosted by the Virginia Kennel Club as a way to thank exhibitors and make the event more fun. At that time, I, as the Junior Coordinator for Gloucester Kennel Club, suggested that the cluster might want to add some very special “dinner entertainment” and the idea just took on a life of its own. Thus, the Senior Showmanship event was born. Sandie Friend, Virginia Kennel Club Show Chair, joined with me in the planning phase as we thought about coordination and appropriate prizes. Gloucester Kennel Club members added their support, while Virginia Kennel Club members helped with entry registration on Saturday.

The Senior Showmanship idea grew out of the prevailing theme of the Cluster, which was “All About Juniors.” The Juniors I have had the pleasure of mentoring frequently express interest in judging, and I sometimes have them take turns judging each other during my classes. From that grew the idea of rewarding these special kids with an opportunity to judge the very people who they look up to, and who have helped shape their desire to be the best handlers they can be.

When I started organizing this event, I never expected to have the list of “heavy hitter” entries that the kids were presented with as they entered the ring to “adjudicate” the classes, instead of entering the ring as exhibitors.

During the cluster, an event that was held on Friday evening, June 19th, was the Junior Seminar with its topic of “AKC Junior Showmanship, the Future, and You.” The purpose of this seminar was to encourage kids to understand and discuss, with a truly knowledgeable adult panel, what the AKC and AKC Clubs, together with their many volunteers, do for them; how they, as Juniors, can give back; and how they can help keep this sport alive in the future.

During the March AKC Delegates Meeting, I’d asked AKC President & CEO Gina DiNardo if she might be available to attend our cluster to speak with the Juniors at the seminar about this particularly important topic. It had been Gina’s idea that AKC all-breed clubs host Annual Junior Regional Competitions in order to encourage all kids as they work toward their goals. These competitions allow kids who might not reach the level it takes to qualify for the Orlando or Westminster shows, or might not be able to attend one of those high-level competitions, another opportunity to qualify for a prestigious competition held in their own area. The First Colony Cluster was fortunate to be chosen to hold the 2026 Mid-East Regional Competition. Both cluster clubs joined together to put up the $1000 amount that was matched by AKC to provide scholarships to the winners. We were thrilled to do so, and chose to highlight this opportunity and truly focus on Juniors throughout the event.

With the Regional event being held on Saturday, Gina immediately agreed to attend the cluster and speak to the kids on Friday Evening. She also agreed to join in the fun at the Saturday evening Senior Showmanship event. Our AKC President & CEO not only truly cares about our Juniors as being the “Next Generation” of our AKC Family, but she is the “Very Best Sport,” agreeing to show a Doberman that she had never met—and after a show ring hiatus of 25 years! Her handling skills “never skipped a beat” and her performance in the ring was AMAZING!

I reached out to other “Very Important People” in the world of AKC. Mari-Beth O’Neill had already committed to attending the cluster, bringing “tons” of great Junior-appropriate swag for the swag bags being presented to the Regional Qualifiers. Little did she know that she would be a Friday evening panelist and enlisted as an exhibitor in the “Social Security Class” during the Senior Showmanship event.

Guy Fisher was already at the event showing dogs and was also enlisted at both events.

Two amazingly busy professional handlers, Diego Garcia and Ernesto Lara, joined in the fun, enthusiastically signing up to participate in their respective age groups. Adding these two highly respected and “idolized” handlers really gave the “Junior Judges” added pressure to be at their best! Their willingness to participate really displayed the absolute best in good sportsmanship and a commitment to the sport for the kids to emulate.

Throughout the competition, the audience enthusiastically applauded and encouraged the participants. Most shows find it hard to keep people engaged in activities after “Best in Show” because people are tired and want to leave the show grounds, but this event held a captive and involved audience. The seats around the Group ring were filled with dog show people of all ages, clapping and cheering their favorites. People were engaged and having a wonderful time! This is such an amazing thing for our clubs, our clusters, and our sport!

The only ones who were serious at this event were the Judges! They took their responsibility very seriously and did an amazing job. Their collective ring procedure was excellent, and their demeanor was “professional.” Any AKC Rep would find it hard to criticize this judging panel!

The Classes were judged as follows:

• The AARP Class was judged by Japheth Towell and David Harmon.

• The Social Security Class was judged by Roslyn Myers and Kendal Parker.

• The Immortal Class was judged by Hadrian Towell and Kylie Scott.

The panel of all six judges conferred as they chose their ultimate winner.

The coveted “Ancient and Awesome, Best Senior Handler” sash was awarded to Jane Nolan with her wonderful Smooth Fox Terrier puppy. Jane also won the utterly amazing hand-crocheted afghan, donated by Sandie Friend (and made by her grandmother).

Jane displayed the correct Junior Showmanship leash work as she changed hands on her leash during her handling patterns, keeping her puppy moving on the “judge’s” side, and also showed excellent skills as she handled her baby puppy beautifully throughout the competition. Well done, Jane! Your skill was justly rewarded.

Prizes for the classes had been gathered by Sandie Friend and were perfectly chosen.

First place in each class was a handmade glasses case—holding a new pair of readers! Second place was a bottle of Geritol. Third place was a magnifying glass, Fourth prize was a pill splitter. All very practical and age-appropriate prizes!

Diego Garcia had one of the more appropriate comments about what this event accomplished. In his words: “Thank you very much to the clubs for this event and thank you for giving all these kids a fantastic opportunity to be able to be the judges and learn about being in the ring and to be the ones judging us. Thank you all very much. And to the kids, you all did a great job!”

The Facebook groups were full of people extolling this event.

The following weekend, I drove from Virginia to the Northeast to attend the Hockamock Kennel Club shows because I am their AKC Delegate. The talk of those shows was amazing; it was all about the Senior Showmanship Event held in Doswell! Clearly the event was very popular and made a huge impression.

What did we learn? We were all reminded that our shows are truly a place for camaraderie and fun. This is a lesson that we may have forgotten, but it is easy to remember if we take the time to try.

Events like the Senior Showmanship Competition remind us all that we are a big family, and that this is a family sport. We had the top echelon of AKC Executives, together with dog people who have been in the sport for years and top AKC Registered Handlers, gathering to share a fun evening with the future leaders of our dog world. We all learned together and had fun together. And we remembered to laugh together.

The kids learned what being in the middle of the ring—and carrying that responsibility—feels like, and they learned that even the AKC President & CEO and Vice President, among others, cares about them, their views, and their opinions.

We all learned that having fun with your dogs and our dog-loving friends makes being at the dog shows joyous and so very worthwhile. This is what may save our sport and our clubs as we go forward.

Let us take this show on the road and encourage other clusters and clubs to produce their own fun events, or copy ours if you like, but make sure your events bring people together and are exhibitor friendly. And try to choose events that also help educate while you are at it.