MALAD — After four straight years competing at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Redbone Coonhound Rebel and his handler and owner Jenny Henry chose the club’s 150th annual show for the dog’s biggest finish.

Rebel took home Best of Breed in the Redbone Coonhound category during the show, which was held in New York City Jan. 31-Feb. 2.

“We were on cloud nine for days,” Henry said.

If you are unfamiliar with the breed, Henry says it’s the same dog depicted in the children’s book “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls.

Henry competed with dogs as a youth but didn’t pursue it again until a few years ago when she started competing with a German shepherd. A year later, she started looking into getting a Redbone Coonhound for her husband. It’s a dog he had always wanted, and they were looking to get him just as a companion, not a competition dog.

But then something happened.

“We started showing him and he was just above and beyond what my shepherd was doing,” Henry said. “My husband told me this dog is going to take me to Westminster someday.”

The road to the Westminster show goes through lower-level competitions throughout the year where dogs and handlers prove their grit. It was through Rebel’s performances in the American Kennel Club’s National Owner-Handler Series that the Redbone Coonhound made his mark.

Henry explained that the NOHS competitions are split into the professional side and the owner-handler side. While she competed with Rebel on the owner-handler side, they also competed in the professional show. There are owner-handlers such as Henry competing in the professional competitions, but there are also many handlers competing with dogs they do not own. That’s the side of the NOHS competition that gets you to Westminster.

“My goal was always to look professional and not be easily recognized as an owner-handler,” Henry said.

Henry said Rebel has placed more than 30 times in the NOHS professional competitions and so many times in the owner-handler competitions that she stopped counting. Rebel’s first year at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was in 2023, and Henry says even though she was hopeful about the competition, she admits part of her was just excited to be there.

But after that, Rebel began his ascent to the top spot. He was named Redbone Coonhound Select Dog, which is second place among males, in 2024. He was given the Redbone Coonhound Award of Merit, which is third place for males of the breed, in 2025. Henry and Rebel went into this year’s competition coveting the top spot.

Now that he has taken the top spot for his breed, Rebel will get to spend a little more time just hanging out.

“This is his last year competing,” Henry said. “With him winning Best in Breed, it’s his big hurrah.”

But Henry is far from done.

“I have achieved the goals I have set out to achieve,” she said. “The next goal is to start doing this professionally and handle dogs for other owners.”

Within that mix, Henry does have a 3-year-old German shepherd she will start showing, and there is a 1-year-old Redbone Coonhound, Rebel’s son, that she will also eventually start showing. But with her aspirations of being a professional handler, Henry says she will likely only compete in the professional side of the NOHS competitions moving forward.