Wednesday, February 15, 2006
I finally made it to Westminster!
Check this out!
My graduate school roommate and I talked for years about going to the Westminster dog show and this year we finally made it. We went to school in New York, but were always too busy with clinic or classes to get over to the Garden and check it out.
So ten years after graduation we found ourselves surrounded. Doggies, doggies everywhere!
And the way they set it up, you can go "backstage" and pet the dogs while you talk to the breeders/owners. We asked them all kinds of questions- about nutrition (MEM walked away feeling assured she was feeding her sheltie just the right types of supplements), grooming, training and each dog's affinity for the various AKC activities available for them to participate in: agility, obedience, lure coursing, etc.
We also watched some breed judging, in five rings in the main arena of the Garden. It looked like mass chaos but gradually the dogs were picked over and one selected, photos were snapped, and the next breed of dogs entered the ring. Like clockwork. Which might be expected from the second oldest sporting event in the country (after the Kentucky Derby). They've had some practice.
All kinds of dog people were there. From the verbose gay New Yorker llama/dog/goat owner who was discussing potential documentaries about junior handlers with a film maker behind us, to the frumpy folks from all over the country who didn't appear at all selfconscious wearing high-waters in the ring, to the nice normal chatty lovers of dogs who actual knew how to converse with humans too.
We had kind of nose-bleed seats, but MEM brought decent binoculars. And we made the most of it: eavesdropping on the people around us; laughing when the camera suspended overhead hovered too, too close the whole evening; sharing camera-phone shots and showing off customized dog purses and dog jewelry back and forth across the aisles. A sedate, but fun-loving crowd for sure.
Long live Rufus, the king!
-Moopy
My graduate school roommate and I talked for years about going to the Westminster dog show and this year we finally made it. We went to school in New York, but were always too busy with clinic or classes to get over to the Garden and check it out.
So ten years after graduation we found ourselves surrounded. Doggies, doggies everywhere!
And the way they set it up, you can go "backstage" and pet the dogs while you talk to the breeders/owners. We asked them all kinds of questions- about nutrition (MEM walked away feeling assured she was feeding her sheltie just the right types of supplements), grooming, training and each dog's affinity for the various AKC activities available for them to participate in: agility, obedience, lure coursing, etc.
We also watched some breed judging, in five rings in the main arena of the Garden. It looked like mass chaos but gradually the dogs were picked over and one selected, photos were snapped, and the next breed of dogs entered the ring. Like clockwork. Which might be expected from the second oldest sporting event in the country (after the Kentucky Derby). They've had some practice.
All kinds of dog people were there. From the verbose gay New Yorker llama/dog/goat owner who was discussing potential documentaries about junior handlers with a film maker behind us, to the frumpy folks from all over the country who didn't appear at all selfconscious wearing high-waters in the ring, to the nice normal chatty lovers of dogs who actual knew how to converse with humans too.
We had kind of nose-bleed seats, but MEM brought decent binoculars. And we made the most of it: eavesdropping on the people around us; laughing when the camera suspended overhead hovered too, too close the whole evening; sharing camera-phone shots and showing off customized dog purses and dog jewelry back and forth across the aisles. A sedate, but fun-loving crowd for sure.
Long live Rufus, the king!
-Moopy
# posted by Moopy and Mopey @ 11:06 PM 
