Owner-handler wins top dog show honor after decades in the industry
TULSA — Julie Mueller has never known life without dogs.
She fell in love with dogs before she was old enough to go to school.
She started showing dogs by age 7. By 12, she was a professional dog handler, showing dogs for a small group of clients.
By 14, she had a full schedule of dog shows. She would go to the kennel at 4 a.m., work with her dogs, go to school, then return to the kennel to work with her dogs until 9 p.m.
“Every show I went to, I was the kid standing around watching all of the pros grooming and showing dogs,” said Mueller. “It was my education. I learned about all kinds of dogs. I saw different ways of doing things, what worked and what didn’t work.
“I was obsessed with it. I was always watching other people. I kind of invented stalking.”
Mueller has become one of the nation’s best-known dog handlers, a regular at all of the nation’s biggest dog shows.
She recently was named the best ownerhandler at the Show Dogs of the Year Awards, the top honors in the world of dog shows and the national industry’s only major award ceremony. It was awarded at New York City’s Gotham Hall on the Saturday night before the opening of the Westminster Dog Show.
It was the first time in a long and distinguished dog show career that she was honored with the top award.
Mueller, who grew up in Wisconsin, has lived in Tulsa for nearly 40 years. She has owned and operated Aurora Kennel for 30 years.
Her mother has owned Aurora Kennel in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for 50 years.
“I literally never wanted to do anything else,” said Mueller. “I love it just as much today as I did when I was a little kid.
“I really enjoy dealing with people who love their dogs. And I’ve never enjoyed the dog shows more than I do now. Every time I go to a show it is like old home week. It is like a family reunion. You see all of the people you’ve been seeing for your entire life at these shows.”
Her first dog was a boxer, but she wanted a poodle at age 6. “That’s when it all really started,” said Mueller. “My mom wanted to go to dog shows. That got us started.”
Over the years, Mueller has learned to love and show all breeds.
“It is very important to know your breed,” she said. “I always thought it was important to know the history and what is important about a specific breed and what are the major traits.”
Mueller started studying the winning dogs and winning handlers. She learned everything she could.
Then, she took a handson approach to learning the best way to show dogs.
“I was grooming a dog for a show just an hour before my high school graduation,” she said.
By age 17, she was traveling the nation, doing up to 30 to 35 shows per year.
Proving she isn’t slowing down, she now does upward of 65 shows per year.
It was about this time that she met her lifetime partner Eugene Blake of Tulsa, a nationally known dog handler and now one of the world’s top dog show judges.
She overcame a devastating car accident, after more than a yearlong recovery, to return to dog shows.
She got a Saluki named Karim who went on to become the top-winning male in the history of the breed. She know show Salukis that are descendants of Karim.
“Winning the award meant so much to me because all of these people are like an extended family to me,” said Mueller. “When we are in the show ring, we are all very competitive. We all want to win.
“But when we are out of the ring, it is family. We all help each other out. They would do anything to help me, and I would do anything to help them. Just to be nominated was a great honor for me. To win was unbelievable.”
She did not show at the Westminster Dog Show this year, though she has shown dogs at the Westminster many times over the years.
But at just about any dog show from California to New York over the next year, Mueller will be there.
“It is what I do,” she said. “Yes, we have a kennel and we groom 25 to 30 dogs per day. I love our clients and all of their dogs.
“But I really love to show dogs. So folks know I won’t be home long. Then, I’ll be loading up and heading off to another show.”