I have attended the Westminster Kennel Club every year for the last 15 or so years, missing only the year my son was born. I am a country girl through and through, but I LOVE to go to the Big Apple. Probably cause I don't drive, the train is the way to go. This year my niece Melissa, her friend Dana and my friend Pat came too.
Anyway, Melissa, Dana and I got to the Garden on Monday morning around 8:00 am and drug my luggage up to the 17th floor of the Pennsylvania Hotel. Pat wasn't arriving until around 10:30 am. My friend Debbie, her friend Nikki (and my new friend too), and her handler Reggie were already camped out in the room. We got Debbie's dogs, Aerly and Trent, ready for the walk over to the Garden and headed out. Aerly's ring time was 11:30 am and Trent 12:30 pm. We all found a good place in the stands to sit and watch the action take place in the Border Collie ring. There were 17 BC's entered and we screamed and clapped for the one we liked, which was Debbies of course, and the one standing in the end at the Best of Breed spot was Debbie's boy Aerly along with his handler Reggie. What a great thrill it was to watch a young up and coming dog win the Breed over seasoned winners, and Debbie was teary-eyed and elated to say the least.
There wasn't much time for celebration cause Debbie needed to get Trent ready for his ring time. Melissa, Dana, Pat and I headed up to the stands to watch our beloved Whippets in the ring. Trent has been in semi-retirement and comes out at a few select shows. He was the #1 Whippet in 2004, and he's been taking it easy the last few years. There was a total of 20 Whippets ranging in age from 2 - 7 years entered for judge Lou Guerrero. He narrowed the field down to about 8 whippets, and when he finally chose his winner, he went over took hold of Debbie's hand, pulled her out into the center of the ring and said "thank you, you're Best of Breed". It was chaos and bedlam where we were sitting as our screaming and whistling was immense. We were thrilled to watch the 7 year old Veteran, Trent, being chosen BOB over all the current winning dogs. This time tears came to my eyes. I was so happy for Debbie and Dan and Bruno. It is a dream come true to win the Breed at the Garden, but to have two breed winners the same year was beyond real. The rest of the day was a whirlwind, lunch with friends and talking to other whippet people back at the bench while waiting for the groups that night. Trent did make the cut in the Hound Group, but didn't place, and Aerly was not a very good boy in the Herding Group ring, so he didn't make the cut, but I'm sure we'll see more of Aerly in the next few years winning the breed at the Garden once again.
Tuesday was lots of fun with Pat, everyone else went home. We watched some breeds we knew nothing about, and actually Pat picked a lot of the same winners the judges did, I was impressed. We walked 11 blocks to go to dinner at Carmine's (44th Street between 7th & 8th Ave), had a few drinks, bought a bottle of wine on the snowy walk back to the Hotel Penn, drank some wine and headed over to watch the groups and Best In Show. The Beagle ended up winning Best In Show and is a very nice dog, but I was routing for the Australian Shepherd to win it all.
If you've never been to the Westminster Kennel Club, it is something you must do once in your life. I'm already anxious to go next year, but that is a long way away. But for now, I have these memories, and memories from "Westminster Past", I'll tell you about them sometime.
Watching Aerly Win BOB - PRICELESS
Watching Trent Win BOB - PRICELESS
Just Being at Westminster - PRICELESS
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!!!
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