Very few top level dogs at Westminster are breeder or owner handled dogs. They are nearly all handled by professional handlers. It looks like a simple enough thing - who can't run around a ring a few times and stack their dogs, right? But it actually takes a TON of skill and practice to be a good handler. Professionals handle dogs for a living and are likely to be able to get that something "extra" out of a dog in the ring that a less experienced owner/breeder couldn't.Here's a pretty good list of reasons owner/breeder handlers don't do as well in the ring. There's a lot of stuff you can do that will make a judge not even consider your dog:
OWNER-HANDLERS: ADVICE FROM PROS AND PEERSBeyond that, I think some politics come into play. If your dog is being handled by someone who is really well known in the breed, then that lends your dog credibility because the person wouldn't be handling it unless they thought it may win.About male/female ratio: I think a few things play into it. Dog showing picked up popularity in the 70s/80s when many women were stay at home moms and men were the major part of the work force. So women had the time to train the dogs, get their fancy clothes on and go "show off their pretty dog" on the weekends. Conformation showing has a reputation for its sequinned dress-suit with knee-length hemline look, and I think many men probably get turned off because of the fashion aspect of it.I think, because of those things, conformation showing is still viewed as somewhat un-manly (though that is changing) and I think many men aren't interested in it because of that. If you look at more typically "manly" dog sports like hunting, field work, etc, it is almost entirely dominated by men.That being said, I watched the CCs and was actually surprised at the number of female handlers. At local shows, the handler split in many Molosser breeds is usually closer to 50/50, from what I've seen.