Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 15, 2013 15:53:45 GMT -4
Reflections on the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this past week.
The new venue was at 55th Street and the West Side Piers, and the first day I had the long walk there from the subway through a freezing rain early in the morning. Not pleasant. The second day there was no rain, although the streets were still slushy with melting snow.
The new place was much bigger and there were many more dogs; the benching area had lots of elbow room for people and dogs. The first day the Toys were in a separate pier area so we needed to take a big freight elevator up to it; the second night the Terrier group was there. In years past, those groups really caused crowded conditions.
That was the good news. The bad news was the location was not convenient, they charged more money with separate admissions for The Piers and later at Madison Square Garden, and there was no grandstand. This was the worst thing as in the past we could watch the Breed competition in the rings from the seats. Now, no seats! So the area around the rings became very crowded and it was hard to see; it also got more fatiguing standing around with snow boots on so long. We also could not just go up into the seats and relax for awhile; there was no lounge area at all.
This bothered most everyone I spoke to, and there was room to build a temporary grandstand for viewing, but they had not. Whether they will if they stay there remains unclear.
All this resulted in more fatigue than usual; plus, all the events were over by 2 PM. As I remember, that would be a good 90 minutes earlier than in previous years. So, there would be a six hour gap between the Breed competition and the 8 PM start at MSG. Not good. No way would I have hung around that long plus there was no point in coming early as all seats were reserved - getting to MSG early did not mean a better seat.
Why that six hour gap I don't know. This might be convenient for people who live in Manhattan and want to have dinner and put on their tuxedos, but not for me.
There were free shuttle buses between the Piers and MSG - helpful but crowded.
How big the crowd was inside MSG for both nights was hard to tell on TV - looked about the same in the lower seats but seemed less in the darker upper levels, but I could not get a good look to be sure.
All the standing around, a different more remote venue, no seats, crowds around the rings, not to mention the weather, made it all more fatiguing than normal, so much so I’d not consider going at night even with less than a six hour gap.
So, about the WKC itself. . . had interesting talks with the owners, as usual. What struck me most was how a Bichon Frise – who had not seen his owner since the night before and was professionally handled in the ring – went crazy happy when reunited with the owner. I got a good photo of that.
A Bull Terrier owner lamented that dogs don’t live longer – the only thing he didn’t like about them, “but they teach us about life, and death”.
The Jack Russell (new breed this year) owner said there was no real difference between that breed and other JR’s other than a slight color difference. She also made it seem like there was some hostile internal politics between clubs at work. The dog I saw was very calm and sedate. She said that was typical for him.
Had a nice talk with a Finnish Spitz owner who claimed hers was the best in the country, and he did win Best in Breed at the WKC.
I got some good photos of a Komondor, which I never have before.
I got some really good Toller photos – very cute happy dogs.
As always, the dogs I photo’ed were targets of opportunity – those out of crates and in good poses for the camera. I used two different cameras.
One thing that again struck me was how all these dogs – no matter how different or big and small – are still dogs, and they act like it. When you see a Bull Mastiff or a Cane Corso getting hugs and belly rubs that becomes obvious.
I posted the photos on my two Facebook pages, the WKC and the AKC FB pages, among others. I may get around to putting them on Photobucket, eventually. No time now.
Will add anything relevant that comes to mind, later.
As always a fun experience, but the lack of a grandstand and a lounge area (as the seats at MSG are in fact) is a serious problem, and this six hour gap before the MSG events, was not good. Nice to not be crowded in the benching area, though. Good for the dogs - no more drooling hot Mastiffs!
Still catching up from all this. Much got backlogged. Busy busy.
Banana Joe Wins! >>http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/banana-joe-named-top-dog-show-article-1.1262865<<
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/sports/no-ordinary-affenpinscher-banana-joe-is-named-best-in-show.html?_r=0<<
The new venue was at 55th Street and the West Side Piers, and the first day I had the long walk there from the subway through a freezing rain early in the morning. Not pleasant. The second day there was no rain, although the streets were still slushy with melting snow.
The new place was much bigger and there were many more dogs; the benching area had lots of elbow room for people and dogs. The first day the Toys were in a separate pier area so we needed to take a big freight elevator up to it; the second night the Terrier group was there. In years past, those groups really caused crowded conditions.
That was the good news. The bad news was the location was not convenient, they charged more money with separate admissions for The Piers and later at Madison Square Garden, and there was no grandstand. This was the worst thing as in the past we could watch the Breed competition in the rings from the seats. Now, no seats! So the area around the rings became very crowded and it was hard to see; it also got more fatiguing standing around with snow boots on so long. We also could not just go up into the seats and relax for awhile; there was no lounge area at all.
This bothered most everyone I spoke to, and there was room to build a temporary grandstand for viewing, but they had not. Whether they will if they stay there remains unclear.
All this resulted in more fatigue than usual; plus, all the events were over by 2 PM. As I remember, that would be a good 90 minutes earlier than in previous years. So, there would be a six hour gap between the Breed competition and the 8 PM start at MSG. Not good. No way would I have hung around that long plus there was no point in coming early as all seats were reserved - getting to MSG early did not mean a better seat.
Why that six hour gap I don't know. This might be convenient for people who live in Manhattan and want to have dinner and put on their tuxedos, but not for me.
There were free shuttle buses between the Piers and MSG - helpful but crowded.
How big the crowd was inside MSG for both nights was hard to tell on TV - looked about the same in the lower seats but seemed less in the darker upper levels, but I could not get a good look to be sure.
All the standing around, a different more remote venue, no seats, crowds around the rings, not to mention the weather, made it all more fatiguing than normal, so much so I’d not consider going at night even with less than a six hour gap.
So, about the WKC itself. . . had interesting talks with the owners, as usual. What struck me most was how a Bichon Frise – who had not seen his owner since the night before and was professionally handled in the ring – went crazy happy when reunited with the owner. I got a good photo of that.
A Bull Terrier owner lamented that dogs don’t live longer – the only thing he didn’t like about them, “but they teach us about life, and death”.
The Jack Russell (new breed this year) owner said there was no real difference between that breed and other JR’s other than a slight color difference. She also made it seem like there was some hostile internal politics between clubs at work. The dog I saw was very calm and sedate. She said that was typical for him.
Had a nice talk with a Finnish Spitz owner who claimed hers was the best in the country, and he did win Best in Breed at the WKC.
I got some good photos of a Komondor, which I never have before.
I got some really good Toller photos – very cute happy dogs.
As always, the dogs I photo’ed were targets of opportunity – those out of crates and in good poses for the camera. I used two different cameras.
One thing that again struck me was how all these dogs – no matter how different or big and small – are still dogs, and they act like it. When you see a Bull Mastiff or a Cane Corso getting hugs and belly rubs that becomes obvious.
I posted the photos on my two Facebook pages, the WKC and the AKC FB pages, among others. I may get around to putting them on Photobucket, eventually. No time now.
Will add anything relevant that comes to mind, later.
As always a fun experience, but the lack of a grandstand and a lounge area (as the seats at MSG are in fact) is a serious problem, and this six hour gap before the MSG events, was not good. Nice to not be crowded in the benching area, though. Good for the dogs - no more drooling hot Mastiffs!
Still catching up from all this. Much got backlogged. Busy busy.
Banana Joe Wins! >>http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/banana-joe-named-top-dog-show-article-1.1262865<<
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/sports/no-ordinary-affenpinscher-banana-joe-is-named-best-in-show.html?_r=0<<
