Connie Krohn has been involved with dogs most of her life, starting off as a Junior Handler and working with Keeshonden in the Obedience rings. She became involved with showing dogs long before she owned her first dog, a Cairn Terrier.
Trina Neil was "bred into" the business, so to speak! Her parents were heavily involved with Bearded Collies and Trina was showing in the Juniors ring almost as soon as she could walk. Trina bred her first litter of Beagles under the FoxBay prefix at only 11 years of age! She has long ago joined her parents in their passion for the Bearded Collie breed, registering the kennel name Motlikru as her own.
Trina & Connie met at the show venues and struck up a friendship, setting up together, helping each other out in the rings, and travelling together to various shows. This friendship has already endured many years and they both look forward to many more years together.
The name KanineKru was chosen for their handling business because it is a perfect blend of their other identities ~ Connie does artwork under the name "k9artist originals", and Trina breeds her Beardies under "Motlikru". Since KanineKru was to be a partnership, the name fit perfectly!
Connie & Trina currently live in a small, friendly town in Saskatchewan: Rosthern, which is located halfway between Saskatoon and Prince Albert. There, the dogs have a large securely fenced grass yard to run in, as well as a gravel potty area for cleanliness which also helps tone up their feet. All dogs are treated as house pets, there are no kennels, no runs for them to get tossed out to and ignored during the day. Every one of the dogs gets individual, personal attention, regular baths and brush-outs, and regular walks either on a flexi-lead in one of the spacious parks by our house or they run beside the bike, depending on each dog's physical needs. There is usually somebody home every day, at any given time, to supervise the dogs and ensure they get all the attention they deserve.
Ex pens are utilized at the shows, but this is mainly so the dogs can get out and stretch their legs, or not muss their hairdos before final touch-ups and going in the ring.
Because such a high level of personalized attention is given to each and every dog, only a select few quality dogs are taken on to be shown.
Connie's specialty is Terrier coats. She has extensive experience in preparing rolled coats, and has worked with Wire Dachshunds, Giant, Standard, & Miniature Schnauzers, Cairn Terriers, Wire Fox Terriers, PBGVs, Lakeland Terriers and Bouviers - taking all these breeds and more to top awards. Trina's specialty is long double coats and drop coats, such as Bearded Collies, Tibetan Terriers, Shih Tzu, Havanese, Briards, Maltese - she does the whole line-brushing thing and brings out the best in every dog's coat. Both Connie & Trina have extensive experience with hand-scissoring as well, having worked with Kerry Blues, Golden Retrievers, Soft Coated Wheatens and many others.
Assistants are not employed at this time. We work as a team, both Connie & Trina being very accomplished handlers in their own right. This helps ensure that any dog sent with us, should a ring conflict occur, is still taken into the ring by a top Pro Handler. Should there be a 3-way conflict, another equally competent handler is asked to assist. We have noticed a disturbing trend with some other handlers, wherein a client is asked to step into the ring with another client's dog if the handler employed has a conflict. Rest assured this will never happen with a KanineKru dog! If someone has hired a handler to show his/her own dog because they are either incapable or not confident to show that dog themselves, then we cannot understand how that person would be qualified to show someone else's dog, often of a breed they have never had experience with before! Your dog is important to us, your money is important to you, and we promise never to waste either by showing your dog when it is not ready or by handing it off to someone not qualified to show it.
Our experience and results speak for themselves. We have both owned and handled dogs to the top in their breed, group, and to the top 10 all-breeds level! Between us we have won over 50 Best in Show awards. See some of the dogs we have worked with over the years by clicking on the Top Dogs link at the top of this, and every page.
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