An experience of a lifetime, junior handler talks about her time at Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

This year’s only Idaho handler at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Lyndhurst Mansion in New York may not have won Best in Show, but she gained copious amounts of knowledge, an experience of a lifetime, and got to sit only two seats down from Martha Stewart.

“I met a girl from Arizona that I had been texting, and she snuck us in to watch the groups,” Briana Balderas recalled of Sunday’s showings. “Even though the very top prestigious people were able to go in and watch, she gave it to me so we got to go and watch.”

Sitting in the VIP area as waiters passed around drinks while live music played enhanced the experience even more for them, Briana said, plus it allowed them to watch the finale on Sunday.

“We got to watch the Working Group, the Sporting Group, the Terrier Group, and then we got to watch Best in Show,” she said.

Instead of flying to New York to compete, Briana, her mom, Kristen Balderas, dad, grandmother, and her Irish setter show dog, Teagan, road-tripped from Twin Falls to Tarrytown. They took in the lush greenery of the plains, the roar of Niagara Falls – Shoshone Falls is better Briana said – and the grandeur of Lyndhurst Mansion during their whirlwind trip.

“The whole town was kind of like the mansion. There were these huge, huge, houses with lots of property everywhere where it was all stone and brick,” Briana said. “Everything was green. There were trees everywhere, all the streets were super narrow. (In) downtown Tarrytown, you could barely get through with the two lanes, but it was right on the Hudson so that was super pretty.”

Teagan seemed to like being there too.

Briana said Teagan was out of character, spinning in circles and jumping everywhere seemingly taking in the excitement of being in a new place with new dogs and places to explore.

Come showtime, however, Briana and Teagan swapped craziness for gamesmanship while going up against 19 others in her class in search of potentially winning.

“It definitely was competitive,” she said. “Some of the juniors were more competitive than others, but I was just excited to be there. I thought it was lots of fun, some of my friends were there, but it was definitely very competitive.”

The class of 19 was split between two groups to be judged before a decision about who moved on was made.

“She made her final cuts,” Briana said of the judge. “She picked five from the first half and four from the second half, and then she judged those nine, and then she picked two.”

Along with a second judge, Briana’s judge picked two finalists each day, totaling eight, who competed in Sunday evening’s finale.

“After we were done judging, which took about an hour, we stayed and watched some other dogs that were being judged, we got some merchandise, then we went and looked at the castle and took pictures,” she said.

By the end of the competition Sunday, a 16-year-old from Orangevale, California, with her 7-year-old wirehaired pointing griffon was crowned Best Junior Handler.

Even though Briana didn’t make the final cut, she was more than excited to have competed in the show.

“I was just so excited,” she said. “I (thought) I didn’t even care if I make the cut or not, obviously I wanted to win, but it was such a cool experience.”

Briana hasn’t let up after competing at Westminster either. On the drive back, she stopped off to compete at a show in Blackfoot, finishing out the two-week trip on a high note.

“I’m still taking it all in because I’ve been gone for two weeks, but I have my ribbon (from Westminster) that I got, and so putting it in a box, having a little memory keepsake, taking what I learned at that show and hopefully using it for next year if I go,” she said.