Page 84 - Aussie Magazine no1, 2023

An Interview with a Handler

Shipperke

Jessica Plourde is one of the

best handlers in the USA. We
are so glad she has taken some time

to provide us with an interview and
answered our questions. Many of us
will remember seeing Jessica back in

2008 when she won Best of Breed
and Best in Group at Westminster

with the amazing ‘Deuce’ (Vinelake
Collinswood Yablon), who was the 1
st
Aussie in history since 1877 to do so!

The younger people in the breed will
know Jessica as she is the handler
of ‘Ribbon’ (NorthBay Xsell That's a

Wrap) the #1 Australian Shepherd All
Systems in 2022.

Dear Jess, please tell us about yourself.

I was born in Connecticut. My mom raised Siberian
Huskies and still does. I remember having a litter
of puppies and just wanting to play with them in
the whelping box and never leave. Every week we
would take the puppies that we kept to handling
classes to train them, but I never really wanted to
work with them because I wasn't interested in
showing dogs. Then one day I decided to go into
the ring with our red and white, blue-eyed Siberian
and thought it was so much fun. I eventually started
to show in Junior Showmanship and also dabbled Photographs provided by: Jessica Plourde
in obedience a little bit. I was asked if I would
like to show a Schipperke in juniors and I was
thrilled and started showing a dog named Speedy.
I became the #3 Junior in the country and placed Archer
third in Juniors at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog
Show with him.

84 | A Worldwide Magazine for the Aussie • Issue 1/2023