Kennel Club PRO™ Series

OVERVIEW: The PRO Series by Kennel Club Books® presents titles for serious dog fanciers and competitors in all areas of the dog sport, from dog shows and obedience trials to agility trials, rally, field and hunting trials, tracking, flyball, and much more. In each of these diverse areas of the dog sport, the general principles of dog care and selection, training, and nutrition are first and foremost in the minds of breeders, owners, and handlers. 

Selection: Whether a puppy is destined for a life in the spotlight of the conformation show ring, a career as a top athlete in agility trials, or a career as a hunter in field trails, an owner selects accordingly. Top show dogs most often beget top show dogs, and top performance dogs beget top performance dogs. Breeders select for specific traits in show dogs, such as temperament, an exquisite head piece, an excellent topline, or that ineffable “star quality,” while breeders of agility dogs select for traits that focus on intelligence, endurance, physical dexterity, and so forth. An owner is well advised to purchase puppies from breeders who concentrate on a particular discipline when selecting a puppy candidate for a dog sport.

Care: The care of a show dog or performance dog begins with the breeder. That the breeder is providing excellent accommodations to the litter of puppy will be evident in the quality of the puppy. A well-cared-for eight-week-old puppy will be friendly, alert, and squeaky clean. The answers to the puppy-care test will always be that the coat will glisten, the nose will be moist, the eyes clear, and the ears clean smelling. An owner’s proper care of a show dog or a performance dog is addressed by the authors of the PRO Series in monthly seminars and columns, reiterating that all competitions, whether shows or trials, are about dogs first and that all dogs require optimum care in the form of exercise, travel safety, excellent accommodations, grooming, and top-quality food. 

Nutrition: Feeding dogs is a hot topic for all dog owners, and professionals in the dog sport commit to learning as much as possible about the complex topic of canine nutrition. It’s no secret that every top dog show and trial in the country is sponsored by a dog food manufacturer that has committed millions of dollars to the development of excellent quality dog food for dogs of every discipline. These companies secure the cooperation of the top-winning dogs to promote their brands, happy to brag about the nation’s number-one dog eating a certain kind of food. Some companies produce foods specific for working dogs or active dogs as well. Show dog breeders have long believed in the importance of feeding a top-quality food. An often-heard slogan in the show world is “First you breed a coat, and then you feed a coat.”

Training: There’s no question that training is an essential component in every pro discipline in the dog sport. Show dog puppies begin conformation training classes at twelve weeks of age; field puppies are exposed to feathers, hides, or game as a part of their kindergarten routines; performance-bound pups learn the basic principles of obedience the day their first leashes are attached. Each author in the PRO Series has his or her own approach to training dogs of their discipline, and these philosophies are espoused in each author’s unique volume in the series.

THE SERIES: Kennel Club Books® introduced its PRO Series in December 2007 with the release of Best in Show: The World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows by internationally acclaimed dog show judge, breeder, and historian Bo Bengtson. Hailed by critics as the most important and comprehensive volume ever written on the sport of canine conformation, Best in Show has set a tone of excellence for the PRO Series.

In February 2008 Kennel Club Books released the second volume in the series, Solving the Mysteries of Breed Type by best-selling author and dog show judge, breeder, handler, and journalist Richard G. Beauchamp. The first edition of Beauchamp’s book was published in 2002 by Doral Publishing. Kennel Club Book’s new, expanded second edition is completely illustrated with color photography. Like Bengtson’s book, Solving the Mysteries of Breed Type concerns itself strictly with the sport of canine conformation, addressing matters of concern for dedicated dog show judges and breeders of top-quality purebred dogs.

In January 2009 Enjoying Dog Agility was published, expanding the scope of the PRO series from dog shows and breeding to the world of canine agility competitions. Author Julie Daniels is one of the pioneers in the agility sport in the United States and has won top honors with her dogs. She has professionally trained hundreds of agility dogs and continues to offer seminars on agility training and performance around the country. Enjoying Dog Agility was originally published by Doral Publishing in 1998, and the new volume is fully revised and illustrated with color photography.

The fourth title in the Kennel Club PRO Series (due in mid-2009) is Born to Win: Breed to Succeed by world-famous Norwegian Elkhound breeder and dog show judge Patricia Craige-Trotter. Mrs. Trotter’s unique qualification in the dog show world is that she is the most successful owner-handler-breeder in the history of the sport in America. She has won the Hound Group at the famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show ten times with her own homebred Elkhounds. Born to Win was originally published by Doral Publishing in 1997, and the new edition is expanded and published with beautiful color photography.

Buy Now Best in Show: The World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows By Bo Bengtson

Buy Now Solving the Mysteries of Breed Type (2nd Edition) By Richard G. Beauchamp

Enjoying Dog Agility (2nd Edition) By Julie Daniels

Born to Win: Breed to Succeed (2nd Edition) By Patricia Craige-Trotter