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Dawn's Diary - Special
Westminster Edition
Below is the original journal entry from our first trip to Westminster in
2004.
You heard me right FIRST trip...as in, there was a second trip in February 2005!
The second trip was as great as the first..not much different so I have decided
to leave this original posting and just add pictures. Coming
soon....Westminster 2006! Victoria gets to go!
DIARY PICS 2004
DIARY PICS 2005
Dear Diary
I can hardly believe that Westminster has come and gone. This was
definitely one of the greatest trips I have ever taken and probably ever will.
It was an awesome experience, and I will try to detail our trip for you so that
you can get an idea of what it was like. We have to start with a little
basic touring, as we arrived on Saturday night and the show started on Monday.
OK, so our trip started on Saturday morning. The first thing we did was
drop Ripley and Lizzie off at the 620 Pet Resort, then headed off to the airport
for the flight to New York City. I won't bore you of the details of the
travel. Anyway, we got to our hotel, the Hotel Pennsylvania
,
and discovered it was right across the street from Madison Square Garden - where
the dog show is. I had done some research on this, and all my sources said
this was a great place to stay due to its location if you want to see a lot of
dogs. Many of the dogs stayed in that hotel. And so they did...when
we first walked in, there were dogs all over the lobby
with
their handlers/owners checking in. Rolling platforms loaded with dog
crates and equipment were everywhere, and frequent barks echoed through the
lobby. I quickly made friends with a couple of Cavaliers, one of which was
competing in the show and the other just along for the ride
.
Upon survey of the lobby, I spied a sign that read something about "Dog Walking,
grooming and exercise area located in the basement". We decided to check
it out. The hotel had emptied out the basement level and filled a big
section of it with wood shavings for a makeshift dog bathroom
.
This was a great place to see a variety of many dogs, as all dogs need to be
walked! It was like 14 degrees in this town, and these show dogs aren't
about to be walking on the city streets risking paw injury for a potty break.
They also had treadmills and grooming tables for prework
.
It was awesome! Elevator doors would open and you would find yourself
staring into the eyes of a giant Mastiff. Dogs were in the halls, barks
echoed up and down the hallways. And we haven't even gotten to the show
yet!
Like I said, we got there a couple of days before the grand event. On
the next page, you can read about our tour of New York City while killing time
before the show.
On to Page Two
,
and discovered it was right across the street from Madison Square Garden - where
the dog show is. I had done some research on this, and all my sources said
this was a great place to stay due to its location if you want to see a lot of
dogs. Many of the dogs stayed in that hotel. And so they did...when
we first walked in, there were dogs all over the lobby
with
their handlers/owners checking in. Rolling platforms loaded with dog
crates and equipment were everywhere, and frequent barks echoed through the
lobby. I quickly made friends with a couple of Cavaliers, one of which was
competing in the show and the other just along for the ride
.
Upon survey of the lobby, I spied a sign that read something about "Dog Walking,
grooming and exercise area located in the basement". We decided to check
it out. The hotel had emptied out the basement level and filled a big
section of it with wood shavings for a makeshift dog bathroom
.
This was a great place to see a variety of many dogs, as all dogs need to be
walked! It was like 14 degrees in this town, and these show dogs aren't
about to be walking on the city streets risking paw injury for a potty break.
They also had treadmills and grooming tables for prework
.
It was awesome! Elevator doors would open and you would find yourself
staring into the eyes of a giant Mastiff. Dogs were in the halls, barks
echoed up and down the hallways. And we haven't even gotten to the show
yet!