Written by Alyssa Grossnickle

I’ve always been fascinated with purebred dogs and dreamt of one day owning and handling my own dog in an AKC dog show. When I was eight years old, my dream came true. My parents bought a Golden Retriever puppy, Gracie, and took me to countless dog training classes, which allowed me to learn confidence in handling and training the puppy. I trained Gracie in puppy kindergarten class, Canine Good Citizen class, obedience, agility, and conformation classes. When I was ten years old, Gracie and I began to compete in AKC Junior Showmanship events. As competitors in the Novice Junior class, Gracie and I quickly obtained our three first place wins advancing into the Open Junior class. From there, my Junior Showmanship career exploded and I succeeded in obtaining 10 first place wins, qualifying me to compete in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. As an 11 year old, I was ecstatic to show in such a prestigious dog show.

I am now 17 years old and approaching the end to my Junior Showmanship career. Since competing in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show as an 11 year old, I have also qualified and competed at the Westminster KC show for three additional years.  I have also qualified for and competed in the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship show for three years. Although competing in these prestigious invitational shows was thrilling for me, my main goal has been to achieve the ranking of #1 Golden Retriever Junior Handler. I have succeeded in obtaining this goal four years in a row, breaking the Golden Retriever Club of America’s Junior Showmanship record. Along with my Golden Retriever ranking, I achieved top national Sporting Group and All-Breed rankings each of those years.

The experience of competing in dog shows has been invaluable to me. Not only did I gain the skill to be successful in the show ring, but I have also acquired countless interpersonal skills from my experiences. My confidence and tenacity grew as I strove to achieve new goals. If I was unsuccessful at one particular show, I adopted the motto “another day; another dog show” and worked harder to improve myself to achieve better results at the next show. A strong sense of pride emerged as I aimed to put my best effort forward. I soon learned that the most effective way to success was not to beat my competitors, but to push myself to new heights and compete with my own previous performances. Eventually, it became apparent that these lessons learned applied to all aspects of my life. I applied lessons I learned from Junior Showmanship to other areas of my life and noticed great improvements in my work ethic, school grades, personal relationships, and even playing my instrument in band class.

Since getting my first purebred dog at eight years old, the sport of purebred dogs has been a major influencing factor in my life. My family and I have been involved in training and competing in agility, obedience and rally with various Golden Retrievers. We have bred a few litters always striving to improve our breed through careful consideration of genetics and health testing. I will never forget the excitement of achieving our first breeder/owner/handler AKC conformation champion!

Since getting my first purebred dog at eight years old, the sport of purebred dogs has been a major influencing factor in my life. My family and I have been involved in training and competing in agility, obedience and rally with various Golden Retrievers. We have bred a few litters always striving to improve our breed through careful consideration of genetics and health testing. I will never forget the excitement of achieving our first breeder/owner/handler AKC conformation champion! I know that I will always be involved in AKC dog shows. While my current goal is to become a veterinarian and I was recently accepted into Colorado State University’s Biomedical Science major and Honors Program, I plan on owning and showing my own purebred dogs as an adult and would love to receive my AKC judging license for the Sporting Group and Junior Showmanship when I am older. Owning, training, and breeding purebred dogs has helped establish my passion for animals

After much hard work, Alyssa takes a nap with her dog, making sure her companion is safe and comforted.

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