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The Handler.

Perhaps the first question is a simple one:

What does it really mean to be an IGP Handler?

Is it simply the person holding the leash?

The person giving the commands?

The person standing beside the dog on the trial field?

Or is it something much deeper?

I believe it is, because behind every Handler who walks onto an IGP field, there is a story that spectators rarely see.

Years of training.

Early mornings.

Long journeys and endless kilometres.

Training in the rain, the heat and the cold.

Equipment, travel, hotels and logistics.

Entry fees, veterinary expenses and countless hours invested in building a partnership that cannot be created overnight.

There are moments of extraordinary happiness and moments of profound disappointment. Victories that remain unforgettable and failures that stay in the memory for years and yet, despite everything, the Handler returns to the training field.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Why?

Because the goal is not simply to win.

It is to improve.

To understand.

To develop.

To build something together.

To pursue that almost impossible idea of perfection.

Not perfection for the sake of a score, but perfection in the partnership.

The Handler is not simply training a dog. The Handler is building a relationship, a language and a connection between two different species learning to understand one another.

That, in my opinion, is one of the most extraordinary aspects of IGP. The dog cannot read the rulebook.

It does not understand the score sheet, it does not know what a championship title means, it does not care about trophies, the dog lives in the moment.

It trusts.

It follows.

It gives everything it has,

so the Handler's responsibility is enormous.

Communication must come not through force, ego or frustration, but through clarity, consistency, timing, patience and trust.

The Handler must become a student of the dog: understanding its temperament, drives, strengths, weaknesses, confidence, fears, physical condition and emotional state and sometimes, even its silence.

Because the best Handlers do not simply teach dogs, they learn from them. Then comes the challenge that makes IGP unique.

Three disciplines.

Three different worlds.

One partnership.

Tracking.

Obedience.

Protection.

In Tracking, the Handler must learn to trust the dog, read the smallest changes and resist the temptation to interfere. Sometimes the best thing the Handler can do is simply let the dog work.

In Obedience, precision becomes communication. Every movement matters. Every command matters. Every transition matters.

But beneath that technical precision, there must still be a living partnership. The dog should not simply perform exercises. The dog should want to work with the Handler.

Then comes Protection.

Intensity.

Pressure.

Drive.

Control.

Responsibility.

Here, the Handler must maintain communication with the dog under extreme emotional pressure. The dog must be powerful but controllable, committed but clear-headed, strong but responsive.

Managing that extraordinary balance requires years of experience and even then, there are no guarantees, because the Handler is human and the dog is a living being.

They are not machines, they are a team and teams have good days and bad days.

There are moments when the Handler leaves the field feeling invincible, and others when they sit alone asking:

"What went wrong?"

Perhaps the tracking did not go as expected.

Perhaps obedience fell apart.

Perhaps the pressure of protection became too much.

Perhaps the Handler made a mistake.

Perhaps the dog made a mistake or perhaps it was simply one of those days when nothing came together.

The frustration can be enormous but the next morning, the Handler returns.

Because the journey continues.

This is what spectators rarely see.

They see the few minutes on the field.

They see the score.

They see the ranking.

They see the podium.

But they do not see the thousands of hours that came before those few minutes, they do not see the training sessions nobody filmed.

The failures.

The injuries.

The financial sacrifices.

The missed holidays.

The cancelled plans.

The long drives.

The endless waiting for the right opportunity.

They certainly do not see the countless times the Handler had to start again.

That is why every Handler who walks onto an IGP field deserves respect, not because they are perfect, not because they always win, but because they have chosen to undertake one of the most demanding journeys in the world of working dogs.

Furthermore there is one responsibility that must always come first:

The health and welfare of the dog.

No title is worth sacrificing a dog's physical or psychological well-being.

No trophy is worth an injury.

No score is worth destroying trust.

No competition is more important than the life and welfare of the animal that makes our sport possible.

The responsible Handler knows when to push and, perhaps even more importantly, when to stop.

They know when the dog is tired.

When it needs recovery.

When veterinary attention is necessary.

When training must be adapted.

When expectations must be adjusted.

..... And sometimes, when the dream must be postponed or even abandoned for the sake of the dog. That is not weakness, that is responsibility, that is respect and perhaps that is the greatest measure of a true Handler. Not how many trophies are on the shelf, but how well the dog is cared for when nobody is watching, because the dog is not a tool for achieving a title, the dog is the partner who makes the journey possible.

The Handler's greatest achievement should never be measured only by points, it should be measured by the quality of the relationship built along the way:

By the trust between two species.

By the confidence developed.

By the ability to overcome difficulties together.

By those moments when Handler and dog seem to move as one.

That is the real magic of our sport.

As we said before, neither the Judge nor the Helper is the protagonist.

The Handler and the Dog are. They are the team that has travelled the entire journey. They are the ones who step onto the field with everything they have built together...... and when the final exercise is completed, whatever the score may be, the Handler walks away with something far more important than a number.

A story.

A memory.

A partnership.

A journey shared with a remarkable animal.

So perhaps the real question is not:

"How many points did they achieve?"

Perhaps we should ask:

"What did it take for them to get there?" And "What does the dog feel when it looks at its Handler?"

Because in the end, the greatest achievement of a Handler is not standing on the highest step of the podium, it is standing beside a dog that looks at them and says, in its own language:

"I trust you.

Let's do this together."

That is the true meaning of partnership. That is the true spirit of IGP.

That's why, when the Judge has finished judging and the Helper has left the field, the spotlight should remain where it has always belonged:

On the Handler and the Dog the true stars of IGP.

Perhaps the most beautiful thing about this sport is that, in the end, the greatest victory is not always the one written on the scoreboard.

Often, the greatest victory is simply looking at the dog beside you and knowing:

"We gave everything we had."

And tomorrow...

We will try again.

Tekst: Judge and Handler Fabrizio Coppola