Elizabeth Edgerton

21

Canfield, Ohio

Greyhounds

At just 21 years old, Liz is one of the youngest full-time professional handlers in the sport, but she’s spent virtually all her life amid the buzzing of hairdryers and rattling of crates.

Liz’s parents met at a dog show: Her father Jim Edgerton bred Basenjis under the Edgie’s prefix, and Liz now continues the Cebar Greyhounds that her mother Dani and grandparents bred before her. Liz’s first foray into the ring was in a pee-wee class at a UKC show. As a 4-year-old, she made her AKC ring debut bringing a Basenji bitch back in for reserve – and promptly won. “I don’t remember it, but I’ve seen the pictures, so I know it happened,” she laughs.

Liz’s grandmother originally had Afghan Hounds, and when Liz was 12, her parents relented and let her get one. “They had no-hair breeds because they didn’t like grooming,” she admits, but the universe soon provided some guidance: Her mother’s friend and a fellow attendee at training class, Briard breeder Kathy Lanam, showed Liz how to groom and trim, becoming an important mentor along the way.

Liz finished her Afghan Hound’s championship in five or six shows, and his grand championship in even fewer.

As a teenager, Liz helped out professional handlers like Nina Fetter and Amy and Phil Booth, but never worked full-time as a professional assistant. After taking some time off to have her son, she bought a big rig a year ago and decided to hang her shingle as a professional handler.

“It was definitely nerve-racking at first,” she admits. “I never really understood all that went into it –  talking to clients and bringing them in. That was definitely a learning curve.”

While learning the business end of the job came as something of a surprise, the satisfaction and excitement Liz felt as a younger watching handlers present their dogs in the ring felt all too familar.

“I love being in the ring. I love it being me and the dog, and knowing I’ve done everything to get there,” she says. “It really starts with the care of the dogs. I love being the one who builds their character up in the ring. You start with a blank slate and you just work with them, and allow them to be who they want to be.”

Strategically located within 10 hours of dog shows that are as far away as Michigan, New York and Kentucky, Liz says she has had to travel much farther during the pandemic, and has gone to many shows that she’s never been to before.

While Liz says clients typically don’t balk at her age, some of her fellow handlers do – and she understands why. “There’s this perception that people my age lack a work ethic – and there is truth in that,” she says. If anything, then, Liz is the exception that proves the rule: In addition to attending dog shows almost every weekend before COVID hit, Liz also works at as a groomer at her mother’s pet store.

“My mother owns three businesses – the pet store, a doggie day care and a raw-food processing plant,” Liz says. “I was always taught, never stop until you get what you want.”