By Adam Berls

pg dog show

PG Kennel Club Dog Show highlights importance of youth involvement

Jul 22, 2023 | 3:26 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — The Prince George Kennel Club hosted its very first show in Prince George since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and while all the attention was focused on the dogs, the show also highlighted the importance of getting youth involved with not only dog shows, because as Dawn Trusty, vice-president of the Prince George Kennel Club explains, there could be no one left to keep the shows going.

“If we don’t mentor our youth, if we don’t bring kids to the shows and help them along, there’s going to be none of us left. Our population is aging in the show world and we just want to be able to pass this on, pass the passion on to the kids, and hopefully, you know, they move up in and become handlers or own their own dogs and take an interest in what we do here.” – Dawn Trusty, VP, PG Kennel Club

One young person who has passion when it comes to the world of dogs is Lauren Zakresky. At only 11 years old, Lauren participated in this weekend’s show and loves everything to do with her four-legged friends.

“I just love, like, spending time with dogs. Like, they’re like my whole life. I love them so much and I just loved, like, training them. It’s like I love how they love humans. I love how they act around other people.” – Lauren Zakresky, Participated in weekend’s dog show

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Lauren’s aunt, Clea Shogren, is the president of the Prince George Kennel Club and says that for the kids they can learn so much and instill values that will last a lifetime.

“We want to instill the values of breeding quality dogs in kids and and showing is part of that. It’s about judging structure. That’s what we want to achieve.” – Clea Shogren, President, PG Kennel Club

At the show this weekend, had competition for youth in dog handling.

“We have junior handling here, which has age divisions. We have from small to large… They’re working towards being able to become professionals. So the competition becomes greater with those. There is in Canada, there is opportunity where they have junior competition, national competition. So these kids have opportunity to show off their talents.” – Dawn Trusty, VP, PG Kennel Club

For young kids, having a dog may not just be about having a companion, but in the case of dog shows, it could mean keeping a tradition and a passion alive.

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Twitter: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com