A 14-year-old Armagh dog-handler is preparing to wrap up on a “phenomenal” 2025 having recently secured one of her biggest wins to date!
St Catherine’s College pupil, Dearbhla Nugent – who has now been crowned Ireland’s Junior Handler of the Year 2025 – became seriously involved with dog showing and handling when she was just 11-years-old.
Her father, Colin, had been the one to start off the family interest having taken such pride in their Weimaraner dogs at home and Dearbhla from “no age” tagged along with him everywhere they went.
His passion soon became Dearbhla’s… so much so that mum, Valerie, even says there’s a “little bit of rivalry” going on!
It all started when the family made the decision to travel some 200 miles from Armagh to Leeds in 2015, to pick up ‘Diva’ from the world renowned Gunalt Kennels.
Diva would become Colin’s first show dog and in then in 2019, she had a litter of pups… of which they hand picked ‘Didi’ who has now become Dearbhla’s own little showstopper.
Having called in to Armagh I‘s office with the delightful Didi (now 6-years-old) by their side, the family were keen to discuss the pair’s accumulating accolades over the years.
Explaining the world of Junior Handling, Dearbhla said: “There’s different rules you have to follow compared to adult handling, like what dad does. You can’t get in between the dog and the judge so you have to swap hands to stay on the right side.”
Valerie then added: “You have to get a certain amount of points to qualify for the final and that’s accumulated over the year. Each year qualifies you for the Junior Handling Final and judge isn’t announced until the day.”
Of course, Dearbhla qualified in points for this year’s final, which was held on Sunday, December 14 at Cloghran Show Centre in Dublin.
Explaining the lay of the land at the finals, Valerie continued: “Those 15 finalists this year ranged from 10 years to 17 years in age and they are put through three stages in the final.
“So they all go with their own dog and are asked to do what the judge tells them to do. They have to stack [put the dog into pose] and do a run-around and then the judge is looking for things like rapport with the dog and control of the dog, how well you handle the dog and if it doesn’t do what you want it to do how you respond.
“Junior Handler is more focused on the handler than the dog.”
Valerie then also explained that in the second round of judging, the handlers are given a “swap dog” selected through ballot. They then have around 15 minutes to get to know that dog and how to handle it before being sent back into the ring.
The final round saw the competitors brought back into the ring with their own dogs before being narrowed down to four finalists… at which point Valerie said she “couldn’t even look with nerves!”
The judge, Ed Casey then called it down to a final two and two more swap dogs were brought in. Dearbhla was given a black Shiba Inu and after another round of judging, she was called as the winner.
Didi. Credit: Jonathon Sterritt Pet Photography
The family said it was an extremely emotional moment, that brought a few tears to Dearbhla’s eye… but overall she was both shocked and delighted.
With this new title comes responsibility. Dearbhla will now go on to represent Ireland at Crufts 2026 for the International Handling Final.
She qualified in September 2025 at Belfast Championship Dog Show under Ian Blackshaw at the Eikon Centre in YKC Gundog Stakes and YKC 12-17 years Handling.
After picking up her win on Sunday she will progress to the Joe Cartlidge International Junior Handling Finals at Crufts in Birmingham on March 6, 2026.
She now also has a requirement to attend the World Dog show in Bologna, Italy in June 2026 and has the option to attend the European Dog show in Sweden later that year.
Valerie says it’s been a “phenomenal year” for the young superstar.
Alongside managing to squeeze in a little football with Armagh Harps, she had also managed to progress in handling winning Individual Handler at a Summer show with Junior Handler Association of Ireland in August and Best in Show with Didi against adult handlers at Bangor and North Down Show in September.
There’s a bright future ahead for Dearbhla and Didi… Armagh’s dynamic duo!
