Handler: The Life of Fred Dileo ~ Chapter Two

I met Fred in January 1995 at the Florida Open All-Age Championship. He was there to run his string, including Double Rebel Buck, who emerged the Champion. I was there to report my first field trial, as excited as a six year old on Christmas Eve. Fred was thirty-four, I was fifty-seven. Fred and Buck would repeat the win in 1996, and I would repeat as reporter (2018 will be my twenty third consecutive year).

Fred would win the Florida again in 2001 with Million Dollar Man and in 2007 with Funseeker’s Rebel. Four wins in twelve years is 33%. He also won Runner-Up in 1987 with Texas Hummer, his first trial dog, in 2000 with Frontline Spike, and in 2002 with Double Rebel Pearl. Seven placements in a major Championship in twenty years, remarkable.

How did a son of Connecticut restaurateurs, leaving home after high school with only the shirt on his back, learn a craft so demanding and rise to the pinnacle of the Handler profession in 2007, winning that season the National Championship, Purina Dog of the Year with record points and Handler of the Year? And do it mostly with dogs of his own breeding and training, contrary to the modern trend?