The Rise to the Top

AAs the audience waits, Nemo bounds along in his stylish brown and white coat. With agility and grace, he steps into the ring with an air of confidence, eating up the spotlight. He is a performer — one among many.

After sitting patiently in the back of the show arena after being manicured and shampooed, he was doing last minute adjustments for this exact moment.

Now, he prances gracefully, head high, eyes sparkling with a hint of mischief.

Nemo is not just a dog; he is a Corgi show dog being shown at the Industry Hills dog show. Emily Montoya, his handler for the last three years, showed Nemo in the ring, to move into Best of Show. Nemo got “best reserve” which is second place in the sport of showing dogs, just one spot away from making it to the “best in show” round.

“Nemo is a great dog, he is just trying to figure out the best way to show him and get him to pay attention to me, while being surrounded by other dogs,” said Montoya.

“There are dog shows almost every month in the United States. Five took place in Southern California in just the month of April alone. The Crew, who are paid to run the setup for dog shows across the country, travel all over, from New York to Georgia to California, for the events.

Many handlers like Montoya are a part of local kennel clubs that put these events together for the dog show industry. At the same time, show fees charged to handlers have risen in recent years. That hurts long-time handlers and newcomers, called “cubs'' in the industry.

“They're raising their prices, a lot of sites are raising their prices,” said Montoya, “Where it's like $10,000 a day, something ridiculous. And then just every year it keeps going up and up. And sadly, the entries of the shows are going down and down. So, the cubs are getting less money and they have to pay more.”

That means handlers now charge dog owners more because the canine competitors can’t walk themselves around the show ring. Winning requires long hours for the professionals who put the shows on and the contestants they train and care for.

Montoya joined the world of show dogs when she was twelve, traveling as a child to competitions, learning the skills of canine groomers and handlers. While many people involved in the industry say family got them involved, especially their parents, Montoya took a different path. A string of what she calls “a little good luck” and a little word of mouth led her to this profession.

It started, though, with a bit of bad luck when Montoya’s English Setter died when she was 12. A senior citizen who was still part of the dog show industry heard about her loss and offered her a Springer Spaniel as a replacement if she agreed to eventually breed the new dog. Spaniels, however, can only be bred in a certain season during the year, so her mother began “showing” her new dog and Montoya became a junior handler.

Becoming a junior handler, or “cub,” is seen as a way for young people to get involved in the shows without feeling the intense pressure to win that often characterizes such competitions, a way to gain experience. At 12, Montoya was a little late to showing dogs. She says most junior handlers are nine or younger when they start.

Emily Montoya's rate sheet for showing dogs.

“I was working for a professional handler, and I was learning how to grow…we'd get there at 6am and he would teach me how to groom them … every dog is groomed a different way,” said Montoya. “Mistakes happen constantly but learning from those mistakes is a must. Always try out different methods and see what looks best for your dog. Grooming one dog is different from how you groom the next, regardless of the breed.”

Montoya said the same goes for handling and showing, as dogs have different personalities and require various approaches.

“Another great way to learn is by simply watching. Watch people you look up to and see how they handle and copy those moves. I remember growing up and I would practice in front of a mirror, stacking my dog, trying different moves, seeing what I liked best both inside and outside of the ring,” said Montoya.

She tried to take in everyone’s advice and develop a handling method she liked. Eventually, Montoya began to show Billie, an English Settler her mother was breeding.

“It took me a little bit to figure out the ropes and essentially perfect my techniques,” Montoya added, but she soon became the number one junior, according to the Kennel Club points standings, with such Spaniels several years in a row.

Montoya rose to become an assistant handler and eventually built her own brand as a full-time professional handler and groomer, with her own assistant. Her current partner in handling and grooming is Lilly Bedowitz, a third generation handler herself. Her grandmother and her mother showed dogs with Bedowitz taking over the family business after her mother's retirement.

"Making a living off of being a professional handler is realistic in the long run,” said Bedowitz.

“However starting off there’s a lot to account for, we all pay our dues. You work for a professional handler working for little to nothing pay. In return you’re being paid in knowledge, learning how to care for dogs, groom them, and learn how to treat clients," she added.

In terms of grooming, the cost for each breed varies on the amount of time needed and amount of work to prepare for show. At the Industry Hills show in April, where Nemo was a star, Montoya showed two dogs within an hour making a total of $320 dollars for exhibiting and grooming them.

During an average dog show, Montoya is tasked with caring for 10 to 20 dogs overnight. Her charges can add up to thousands for one weekend. The downside for Montoya is that this level of care is a 24/7 commitment to dogs’ comfort. That means she gets little sleep while sometimes traveling hundreds of miles for shows.

Montoya is a member of the Torrance Kennel Club, which puts on two to three events a year for the industry. She hopes other younger adults like herself will join and keep the dog show tradition alive.

"Younger people join clubs, because they are filled with older people that just aren't up with the times and don't have the energy to put on these shows,” she said.

And there is money to be made by newcomers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars go into the production of dog shows, which are run by the handlers from local kennel clubs who, like Montoya, are tasked with running things behind the scenes and showing clients’ dogs.

Montoya makes her living from the dozens of dogs she shows, but there are only so many she can show in a weekend. So, although some groomers and handlers can make good money, Montoya said she is in it for the love of the dogs. Her new partner, Bedowitz, worries though that the hunt for money is hurting the industry.

"I believe the good professional handlers are in it for the love of the dogs. That doesn’t take away from a real problem we have with breeders and handlers being in it for the money," said Bedowitz.

The Middle Ground

Showing dogs isn't the only way to gain a profit in the show industry. These canines and handlers require the adequate materials such as accessories and costumes in order to compete at the highest level.

The vendors are a one stop shop to get essentials when a leash breaks or when there is a wardrobe malfunction during a dog show.

There are the spectators at the dog shows, who come for the love of dogs, and sometimes leave with a piece of equipment for their own dog. These are the average fans who want a piece of what the best of the best are using.

When owners and handlers are showing off their canine clients to judges, a sea of vendors stand ready with everything they need from leashes to dog beds to suits and dresses.

1 / 3

Australian Shepherds are shown around the ring at the Industry Hills dog show on April 19th.

2 / 3

A number of dogs line up, waiting to enter the rings at the Industry Hills dog show on April 19th.

3 / 3

The dogs in the Poodle groups are inspected by a judge at the Industry Hills dog show on April 19th.

❮ ❯

Photos by Garret Harcourt

Every dog show in the United States has an area in the arena specifically for vendors who sell essential items like leashes and collars and non-essential items like outfits for the handlers.

Shows often pay upwards of $100,000 to rent their venues so vendor spaces can cost hundreds of dollars per show. Prime spots are near the show rings and the entrances where vendors can sell to spectators or competitors. Many vendors make a majority of their profit, if not all of it, from the dog shows. Smaller vendors can bring in $300 to $500 on a given day, while the larger booths may bring in $800 to $1,000 dollars.

A majority of vendors may also have some stake in the shows, such as having a dog they enter. Richard Seba started out in the garment industry with his brothers, following in the footsteps of his father. When he first got his dog from a breeder, he noticed the particular bed the dog was sitting in and thought, with his experience, he could create his own dog bed and make a profit from the dog show industry.

He sold his first designs not at a dog show but at a small vegetable market in Studio City, California. His use of new “A man approached me one day with Channel 7 News and asked me if he could film and take pictures of my dog beds,” said Seba.

The newscaster said Seba stood out at the market, an area mostly filled with vegetable and food stands, due to his pop-up stand selling dog beds.

From that moment, Seba gained a following in Studio City and made a name for himself in the dog bed industry. The new piping and materials used in his dog beds allowed them to be produced in a mass quantity. Then, Seba bought vendor spaces at dog shows to start selling full-time in 2003.

To this day he still travels to shows. “This week I went to Tennessee, came back through Colorado, I’m here now (San Diego) and going up to Northern California next week,” he said.

Seba sells anywhere from 10 to 25 dog beds per show depending on the size. For the Del Mar Kennel Club Show, Seba was selling his small beds for $75 and $180 for the largest sized bed. Selling an average of 18 beds at a show earns Seba around $2300 dollars for each show he attends.

He is competing with other vendors now, one of whom sells the same kind of bed with a different material that they claim is “less toxic” than Seba’s. Seba says his materials are not toxic and his products are still affordable.

“I enjoy the business, the money added up until Covid-19 and I’m now off 60 percent since then. I’ve only started recently to make a comeback,” continued Seba.

Seba isn’t the only vendor who took a loss after Covid-19 shut down most dog shows and changed some consumer spending habits.

Geralyn Brutsche has been in the industry for 17 years, traveling to dog shows around the country, from Los Angeles to upstate New York. The costs for the outfits and accessories Brutsche makes from scratch, some right at the shows, can sell for $100. She said, however, there was no business for her during Covid. Without spectators and shows with large turnouts, there just wasn’t enough money to be made for independent vendors.

“There really was no business to uncover during the tough times, there were not many spectators coming to the shows,” said Brutsche.

With the rental costs of fairgrounds and other venues rising post-Covid, some shows have turned to outdoor competitions and the weather hassles that can come with them. As a result, Brutsche has been creating collars and leashes for dogs who will be outside and she also now sells raincoats and warm jackets for the handlers.

Around 13 years ago, Brutsche began to show her own Afghan Hound as a means to display her products in the ring. She says she’s now often one of the only vendors to sell items and show dogs.

“It’s a full time commitment since I’m by myself at the venue, so it’s a lot of work involved,” said Brutsche.

As part of that work, Brutsche says she practically lives out of her van as she constantly travels and tries to sell her products inside and outside of the show rings.

Handling Business

Money has always been there in the world of showing purebred canines, but it wasn’t always about the hustles of handles and vendorsFor more than a hundred years, this was the sport of the elite and wealthy in the United States.

“From the early 1900s to the 1940s was when it was at its height. You had just incredibly wealthy people, the Dodges and Forbes and people such as JP Morgan, they were all involved in purebred dogs,” said former professional dog show handler Tom Grabe.

Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, the daughter of William Rockefeller Junior (the co-founder of Standard Oil), was one of the wealthiest women during the Great Depression. She took an interest in showing dogs, and created the Morris-Essex Kennel Show which at the time was one of the richest sporting events in the country.

Owners, professional handlers and amateurs all compete on the same playing field as seen here. Tom Grabe, has insight into who’s really running the show.
Photos by of Garret Harcourt

“There were 300 or 400 entries, and it was made up mostly of those people's dogs now, then the 50s came after World War II and all of a sudden, the middle class grew,” said Grabe. “And that's when the purebred dog registration started to explode and carried on into the 80s especially and then in the 90s.”

Grabe believes that the industry has changed as more people have approached it as less of a luxury hobby and more like a full time job. With shows taking place weekly, sometimesThursday through Sunday, it can be difficult to be employed in some other field at the same time.

“One thing that's interesting about this sport, purebred dogs, is that it is one of the few sports where the owner, the amateurs and professionals compete with each other in the same field or in the same ring,” said Grabe.

Grabe and his wife, Amy, began as professional handlers, showing their own dogs, then going on to show dogs for many other owners. Back then though, Grabe didn’t travel as much as people do today, only making the trip to the West Coast around three times a year.

That didn’t stop him from breaking Kennel Club records with his own dogs, producing several award winning and number one dogs of their breed.

Unlike most in the sport who go on to join kennel clubs, Grabe took a different approach. He and his wife purchased “Canine Chronicle” in 1996.

This print magazine can be found at every major dog show in the United States. It provides information and shows the winners of best in show and specific dog breeds from competitions across the country. Most of the pages, though, consist of handlers showing their champion dogs in order to gain more business from owners looking for someone new to take their prized pet into the ring.

Owning the Chronicle meant Grabe could not show dogs anymore in order to avoid ethical concerns from advertisers who were often professional handlers and vendors in the business.

Grabe said he used to attend 100 to 125 shows a year in the 80s and 90s. Now he says people are breaking the 200 mark for shows attended in a single calendar year.

Numbers from the American Kennel Club (AKC) shoe sanctioned events are decreasing, down slightly from 4,633 in 2015 to 4,457 last year.

The number of licensed AKC members, though, has increased from 18,707 in 2015 to 23,681 in 2022.

Grabe has seen the level of competition go up as the number of dog entries and members has increased with the number of sanctioned events slowing.

Josh Reyes has been a part of the Crew, traveling with the set-up team throughout the last decade. He has taken part in dog shows in Orlando, Santa Barbara and San Diego for the vast majority of the last decade.

“Some of the smaller events are just not making enough money to happen as frequently in smaller cities like Santa Maria or Ventura,” said Reyes. “These shows need to be able to afford setup, the venue and maintenance to run the show. It just is becoming more and more expensive each year.”

Despite the decreasing number of shows, most of those in attendance tend to be older, so some in the industry fear for the sustainability of dog show culture if younger people don't take an interest.

This English Springer Spaniel from the Sporting Group getting ready for the Industry Hills show on April 20th.

This Pembroke Welsh Corgi, part of the Herding Group, waits in his cage at the Industry Hills show on April 20th.

A Wirehaired Dachshund like this one, is placed in the Hound group, due to their ability to hunt Badgers.

An Australian Shepard from the Herding Group, waits on a leash to be groomed at the Industry Hills show on April 20th.

“The bigger shows tend to have larger numbers, but the majority are still older members taking part in the shows,” said Reyes.

Emily Montoya joined the Torrance Kennel Club so she and Nemo can have a future in the industry for years to come, hoping that, as they leave, older members will pass on their knowledge.

“I think it's so important that the younger kids join clubs. My friend held me to my word to join, and I’m doing my part to help keep the Torrance shows running,” said Montoya.

For Grabe, this is the way the sport will advance and continue into the future with men and women in their 20s and 30s, like Montoya and her partner Lily Bedowitz, continuing the legacy of the dog show.

“There's no option. If they don't join the clubs then there won't be dogs, and those clubs won't exist. I mean, nobody lives forever. They're gonna have to recruit new members and teach them,” said Grabe.