BATTLE GROUND HIGH SCHOOL grad Raina Moss, 18, shows her Clumber spaniel, Dirk, at the prestigious Eukanuba national dog show, held in mid-December in Orlando, FL. Moss was named the nation’s best junior dog handler at the show, and will now move on to compete at the international Crufts dog show in England in March of 2016.
RAINA MOSS, A 2015 Battle Ground High graduate and freshman at the Art Institute of Portland, kisses her 4-year-old Clumber spaniel, Dirk, after winning the best junior dog handler award at the nation’s largest dog show, the Eukanuba National Championship, in mid-December.
BATTLE GROUND – Outside of the dog show ring, 18-year-old Raina Moss is much like any other college student – excited to see old friends from Battle Ground over the winter break, focused on her future as a graphic designer and enjoying her days at the Art Institute of Portland.
Inside the dog show ring is where Moss, a 2015 Battle Ground High grad, shows off her unique talent for handling pretty much any dog-related crisis you can think of.
“I’ve shown so many types of dogs. Everything from a chihuahua to a Newfoundland,” Moss says. “Once, the dog had diarrhea. The entire time we were in the ring!”
Of course, no judge wants to see that in the dog show ring, but Moss’ composure during times of smelly, gross distress gained the judges’ admiration. Later, they told her they liked how Moss remained in control of the situation, cleaning up the dog’s messes and keeping pace as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
That calm demeanor – and knack for understanding dogs – recently earned Moss top honors amongst junior dog handlers, ages 9 to 18, at the country’s largest dog show, the 2015 Eukanuba National Junior Showmanship Championship competition, held in Orlando, Florida in mid-December.
Now, Moss is preparing to compete in England at the renowned Crufts, the world’s largest dog show.
“Crufts is like the highest goal,” Moss says of the international show, held in Birmingham, England in March of 2016. “It’s the pinnacle, where everyone wants to go, but never thinks they’ll get the chance.”
Moss, a longtime member of the Battle Ground area 4-H group, Wiggles and Wags, has been showing dogs since elementary school. Although her first show dogs were English springer spaniels, she says she fell in love with another dog breed – the large, mellow Clumber spaniel – when she was still quite young.
“Clumbers are very independent and loving and mellow,” Moss says. “But they’re also very low energy and you do have to convince them to do what you want them to do.”
Smart, low-energy dogs that don’t always agree with their handlers aren’t necessarily the best type of dog to work with on the dog show circuit, but Moss has found a wonderful partner in her 4-year-old male Clumber, Dirk. Dirk has established a special bond with Moss and doesn’t like to be without his human for too long.
“When I take a shower, Dirk wants to be in the bathroom,” Moss says, laughing. “If I shut the door, he’ll stick his nose or paw under it!”
That bond has helped Moss in the dog show ring, since Dirk enjoys obeying his human’s commands and doesn’t tend to fall into the Clumber trap of behaving perfectly outside the show ring and then refusing to do anything inside the ring.
“Dirk loves me and he’ll do anything I ask,” Moss says.
Dirk’s adoration helps, but at the junior dog show level, the judges are looking at the handler more than the dog. The opposite is true for the adult dog show circuit, Moss says. At that level, Dirk’s beautiful behavior would go far. But at the junior level, Moss’s dog handling skills were what was being put to the test.
At the international Crufts show in March, Moss will travel without Dirk for the first time in many years. She also will have to show dogs that she’s never met. For other young handlers competing at the world’s largest dog show, this might be tricky. But for Moss, who has spent the past several years working for professional handlers and showing every type of dog imaginable inside the show dog ring, there is little fear-of-the-unknown-dog doing on.
“It definitely gives me an advantage,” Moss says of her work for professional handlers. “I just need to figure out which breeds I’m going to request.”
The Crufts show asks junior competitors to list their top two breed choices for showing. Although Moss adores the mellow, sweet Clumbers – in fact, she has six Clumbers, including Dirk, at her Battle Ground home, which she shares with her parents, Darcy and Warren Moss – she says she’s leaning toward a more obedient breed that is similar to the Clumber, possibly an English cocker spaniel or even a pointer, for the high-stakes Crufts competition.
So far, Moss’ dog-handling talents have earned her a slew of scholarships, including the $2,000 scholarship she won at the Eukanuba competition in mid-December. As for her future, Moss says she isn’t sure that she wants to be a professional handler, although the top handlers can earn a great living on the dog show circuit, but adds that she also doesn’t intend to give up on the dog world once she’s graduated from art school.
“My ultimate goal is to be a graphic designer,” Moss says. “But there is a lot of graphic design in the dog shows, so maybe that’s something I’ll look into … I just know that I want to stay in the dog world.”
