Shane, Slim come home with big win

Kelly Shane of Corning and her four-legged team members have earned national recognition in the world of dog shows and will soon be on the Animal Planet and Discovery channels to prove it.

Shane, 46, who has been showing dogs for seven years, attained a career best when she and her 3-year-old Basenji, Champion Jokuba-Kazor’s The Way I Am (better known as Slim Shady), won Best of Breed in the Hound Group during the American Kennel Club/Eukanuba National Championship at Long Beach. Held Dec. 13 and 14, the championship is the largest prize money dog show in the world, and dogs were shown by invitation only.

“We went to Eukanuba with Slim being the 18th best Basenji in the country and won over several of the world’s top Basenjis,” Shane said. “Slim nailed it.”

Shane has been a professional dog handler for more than seven years and travels all over the country to show dogs for her clientele.

“I have five dogs living with me that I am training for the show ring and showing, including Slim,” Shane said. “But I also have clients who bring their dogs to the shows and I handle their dogs for them.”

She moved to Corning five years ago from Oregon in an effort to get more centrally located on the west coast.

“I travel to dog shows every week. It’s a very busy and demanding job, but I love it,” Shane said. “I drive or fly to dog shows somewhere in the country every weekend and sometimes for a week at a time depending on the show.”

On top of all that, Shane runs a dog-grooming business in Corning called Waggs, which has been open for three years.

“That I fit in where I can,” she said. “I have a long list of dog grooming clients that I want to serve and do a good job for. Basically, dogs are my life.”

Shane’s training career didn’t start out with dogs though.

“I grew up in Los Angeles and my dad wouldn’t let me have a dog. We had chickens and roosters so I started out training them,” she laughed.

Born with what she calls the gift to read animals’ minds, Shane said her first goal is to gain an animal’s trust.

“I love dogs and they know it, and they know instinctively that they can trust me. That has to happen before any other communication can take place. People bring me their problem dogs to prepare and handle for the show ring and so far I haven’t had any failures,” she said. “You have to understand the dog’s language before he can understand yours.”

Shane said Slim Shady is a perfect example of dogs and humans working together.

“Slim doesn’t like showing indoors. Almost all dog shows in California are outdoors, which he prefers. The Eukanuba is indoors with a lot of new sounds, lights, and cameras. That was all new for him, so he started acting up a bit in the ring,” Shane said. “On our last round I leaned over and whispered in Slim’s ear that he needed to settle down and he did and we won.”

While showing a dog might look easy, Shane explained it is a lot harder than it appears.

“We start the dogs out when they are about 6 months old. A lot of socialization, going to different places, meeting a lot of different people,” Shane said. “We hold puppy show matches, just little fun puppy shows, and let the pups get a feel for the show-ring, working with a collar and leash. That way we learn what each pup’s strength and weakness is.”

Once in the show ring, a dog has to really stand out and catch the judge’s attention, she said.

“That is what Slim does naturally, he has the right attitude,” she said. “He is a champion through and through.”

Slim wasn’t the only one of Shane’s dogs that come home from the Eukanuba with success.

She also showed Champion Chaps Smokin Woodsy Bry’r, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, owned by Shane and Waggs co-owner Jackie Chapman, who earned a judge’s special “Award of Excellence” recognition.

Both dogs have now been invited to compete in the Crufts Dog Show held in England at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre and billed as the world’s largest dog shows.

“It has been a real privilege to be invited to the Crufts on top of our success at Eukanuba,” Shane said.

She said Slim Shady won in part because of his great attitude and also because he is an excellent representation of the breed type and standard set by the American Kennel Club (AKC).

“A lot of people don’t know that Basenjis, originally from Africa, don’t bark, they yodel and have a lot of cat-like qualities,” Shane explained. “They are exceptionally clean and independent.”

There are two types of hounds in the AKC hound group – sight hounds and scent hounds – Basenjis are sight hounds used for hunting.

Shane is also proud to say that Slim Shady will soon be a father for the first time. Five of his puppies are due in February.

After winning the Eukanuba, Shane has an excellent start in taking Slim Shady on to be the country’s number one Basenji.

“I will show him in a number of other top shows through the year and then onto the Eukanuba again,” she said.

The airing date to see Shane and Slim Shady winning at the Eukanuba National Championship Dog Show on both the Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel is Jan. 31.