In many ways, Madison (Maddie) Carolan is your typical 15 year old girl. A student at Fort Mill High School, she’s well spoken, kind and will gladly tell you about her friends when asked. In short order, the conversation will pivot to her passion for dogs. This is where the separation from other teenagers starts to go in a different direction.
Maddie is the #1 junior handler of Newfoundlands in the nation, a distinction she won last year. It took her only 7-8 dog shows before she was able to secure the title. That’s an incredible accomplishment for someone so young with limited experience. As a junior handler, she’s competing against kids as young as 9 or teenagers as old as 18.
Maddie, along with her mom Kelly and stepdad Brian Benton, live in Tega Cay with their 3 dogs. Two of them (Ellie, 6 years old and Aquena, 2 years old) are Newfoundlands (aka Newfies). A Newfoundland is a large working dog originally bred to be used by fisherman for a variety of activities. Their third dog (Savannah) is a Husky.
Introduced to Newfies by her stepdad, Maddie began working with the dogs at 13 years old. She would travel to Tennessee with her parents to help with water training, a standard practice for Newfoundlands being bred for dog shows. During the training, she met several people who showed their dogs and thought, “it would be a fun thing to start.”
If you’ve never seen a Newfoundland, they’re big dogs. Weighing in anywhere from 120-180 pounds, you’d think they’d be tough to manage. Not necessarily. Providing comfort and sensing when their human owners are upset or stressed, they can be easier to work with than you may think. “They’re gentle giants. That’s just how they are, they’re very low key,” says Kelly.
This helps to explain a bit of Maddie’s success but certainly doesn’t remove the challenges she has faced in learning how to work with the breed. As a handler, Maddie needs to have a deep understanding of how to present her dog appropriately for the judges. This includes a technical aspect such as the gait (how they walk/trot/run) for each dog she handles to something more aesthetic like grooming.
Due to busy schedules and the expense of traveling on weekends, Maddie has thus far competed in regional shows throughout the southeast, representing the Southeastern Newfoundland Club (https://www.senewfs.org/madison-carolan.html). Kelly mentioned they’re hoping to take their road trip national this Spring in order to compete in the National Newfoundland Show in May.
When asked what her friends thought about her hobby, Maddie said, “Oh, you have something kind of different. It makes people more curious about it. I’ve had some of my close friends who want to come (to the dog shows) sometimes.”
As you can imagine, Maddie is still trying to figure things out and what her future may bring. Although, she is secure in the knowledge that being a dog handler is important to her. “No matter what I do, I’ll want to show. I still want it to be an extra activity I do, even if it’s not my full time career.”
No matter what she chooses to do, it’s obvious Maddie has a handle on her life, and her dogs.
