{"id":8738,"date":"2025-05-26T17:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T20:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8738"},"modified":"2025-05-26T17:07:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T20:07:17","slug":"young-port-medway-dog-handler-to-represent-nova-scotia-at-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/05\/26\/young-port-medway-dog-handler-to-represent-nova-scotia-at-national-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Port Medway dog handler to represent Nova Scotia at national championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hailey Flemming and her dog Nala outside her family’s home in Port Medway. Hailey will be representing Nova Scotia at the Canadian Kennel Club’s National Junior Handling Championship in August. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

A young dog handler from Queens County will be representing Nova Scotia at a national championship in Manitoba.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey Flemming, 12, from Port Medway plans to fly to Winnipeg in August with her family to compete in the Canadian Kennel Club\u2019s National Junior Handling Championship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her family owns Medway Kennels, where they breed collies and board other people\u2019s dogs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey has been competing in conformation and obedience shows for about two years.<\/span><\/p>\n

She will be up against 13 other junior dog handlers from across the country as old as 19.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s already accomplished a lot in a short time, racking up ribbons and taking home trophies at kennel club and 4-H events in Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey got her first taste for the dog show ring at four years old when she showed her cousin\u2019s Corgi.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun. It\u2019s a hard sport but once you get the use of it then it\u2019s easy. And with a collie, it\u2019s an easy breed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Nala together, we\u2019ve won a lot of ribbons. And with the male Maverick we\u2019ve won a couple of ribbons too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey, who wants to be a professional handler someday, says she feels happy when she’s in the show ring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I don\u2019t get nervous at all. It\u2019s just go in (the ring) and like there\u2019s a bunch of people watching you. And it seems scary but it\u2019s not. (Nala) doesn\u2019t get nervous either. She doesn\u2019t pay attention to other dogs unless they touch her. But other than that, she\u2019s pretty good listening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey\u2019s mom Crystal says she\u2019s proud of what her daughter has accomplished so far.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPretty honoured. I\u2019ve been with dogs all my life but I didn\u2019t have the confidence like Hailey does in the show ring. It wasn\u2019t something that I enjoyed. I just did it because it had to be done if you breed dogs. Hailey has been totally opposite of that. She doesn\u2019t get nervous, she loves it and it\u2019s showing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got ribbons and trophies galore. It just makes me smile every time I think of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually at an event like the famous Westminster Kennel Club show, it\u2019s the animals that are being judged. But at the national junior handling championship in East St. Paul, near Winnipeg, it will be the humans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>In juniors, it’s judging the kid on how well the kid does,” Crystal says. “And of course, if the dog works better with the kid, then they have more of an advantage. But there’s lots to learn in juniors. They have to do many different patterns and they have to know the parts of the dogs. They have to know what the breeds were bred to do. They’re going to ask them all kinds of questions.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes at a regular show around here, it would just be one judge, and that judge would get them to show their dog and she may ask a few questions. At this show, there’s going to be five judges. There’s going to be one in the main ring with them, getting them to do the patterns and show their dog, and there’s going to be four others sitting down and they’re probably going to ask them questions as they go around.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Crystal says they weren\u2019t banking on Hailey going to the nationals this year. So, they\u2019ve been asking for donations from friends, family and the community to help cover the approximately $4,000 cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no clue we\u2019d be going to Winnipeg for nationals when we went to regionals that day and that wasn\u2019t even in our mind. \u2026 People have been extremely supportive. A lot of clients from my kennel and dog show clubs, they\u2019re giving money to help Hailey get to Winnipeg.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The event in Manitoba will also feature regular dog shows and obedience trials. And there will be social outings for the junior handlers and their families.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey says practice, and one other vital element, have been key to her and Nala\u2019s success so far: “Treats.”<\/span><\/p>\n

She says she\u2019s learned a lot working with dogs in the past few years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned how to train my dogs and make her\/him pay attention to me more and how to eliminate treats in obedience because you\u2019re not allowed treats in that. I\u2019ve learned how to, for showing, you have to run a certain way and I’ve learned to run with a glass of water in my hand and not spill it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hailey is looking forward to getting into the ring with Nala for the first time at a national competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReally excited. The main reason that I’m actually excited to go is to get the experience. I don\u2019t care about winning, just the experience of getting to go there and seeing other junior handlers show because they\u2019re really good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The national junior dog handling championship will be held on Aug. 16 in East St. Paul, Manitoba. The winner of that event will represent Canada at the international junior handling championship at Crufts Kennel Club in Birmingham, England, next March.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to donate to Hailey\u2019s trip to Manitoba, you can contact Crystal Flemming through Medway Kennels at <\/span>medwaykennels@yahoo.ca<\/span><\/a>, or through their Facebook page<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/juniordoghandlermay2625.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young dog handler from Queens County will be representing Nova Scotia at a national championship in Manitoba. Hailey Flemming, 12, from Port Medway plans to fly to Winnipeg in August with her family to compete in the Canadian Kennel Club\u2019s National Junior Handling Championship. Her family owns Medway Kennels, where they breed collies and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[3122,3127,3132,3129,3118,3119,3121,3128,3124,3117,3120,3131,3133,3130,241,3123,3125,238,49,3126],"class_list":["post-8738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-best-in-show","tag-canadian-kennel-club","tag-collies","tag-conformation","tag-crystal-flemming","tag-dog-handler","tag-dog-handling","tag-dog-show","tag-dogs","tag-hailey-flemming","tag-junior-dog-handling-championship","tag-maverick","tag-medway-kennels","tag-nala","tag-nova-scotia","tag-obedience","tag-pets","tag-port-medway","tag-queens-county","tag-show-dogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8741,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8738\/revisions\/8741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}