Westminster Weekend Has Begun

What most people don’t realize is that Westminster is a week long celebration of dogs in and around New York City. In fact Pre- Westminster events got started this morning with the Progressive Dog Club’s Toy Breed Show at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Don’t worry the bigger breeds (read that as anything other then those classified as toy breeds) are out there competing today as well but they just don’t fit in the space at the Hotel Pennsylvania so they are at the Meadowlands in New Jersey this weekend.

If you live in NY and want to check out the festivities I highly recommend stopping by the hotel and hanging out for a while. You will be able to meet the dogs competition in Westminster. While there will be owners and handlers running back and forth from their room with dogs showing throughout the weekend you will be able to stop people and talk to them and probably say hello to the dogs they are with. I got to meet a really nice Clumber Spaniel hanging out in the lobby a few years ago. And Indiana did a meet a greet with several people while we were waiting in the lobby after a show where she turned a number of heads. Someone even told me I needed to put her out with a handler by that time we were weeks away from moving to Hong Kong but I knew that Indiana should have been out with a handler for months already by that point. It was actually the last show Indiana ever attended.

You can bring your camera but ask before you take pictures. Most people will say yes but you don’t want to catch a dog off guard and scare them with the flash because they were checking out the beautiful dog next to them or trying to get their friend to play. If you want to take your dog viewing up a notch head on up to the Mezzanine Level and for a very small fee you can spend the day watching the dogs competing (leave your stroller at the front desk or just leave it home the space is just too small to use it). Many of the dogs that are shown during the weekend will be competing at Westminster and the others are up and coming hopefuls. Saturday and Sunday’s competitions start on a rolling basis as the various breed clubs hold specialty shows some breeds will be in the morning and others will begin in the afternoon.

DO NOT bring an unentered dog with you to any Westminster Weekend event. While it is never really allowed to bring other unentered dogs with you it is understandable if you need to bring an extra dog if you are competing because you can’t leave them home alone or they want to socialize their up and coming puppies. It is never a good idea to bring an unentered pet with you to a dog show. There are hundreds of dogs running around trying to get from one point to the next, lots of people, smells from the concession stands, etc. During the summer when events are held outside in big giant fields some venues will overlook a pet coming to visit to check out the vendor stands. There is literally no extra room even for the dogs who are competing to hang out around the space used at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

One more tip for attending a dog show (any dog show) don’t reach out to pet the dogs without permission. Its not that they would get upset and bite you. You don’t know if the dog is waiting to go into the ring or if it has already been in the ring even if the dog is on the way out of the ring it does not mean that the dog will not be going back into the ring. In most cases if the dog is waiting to go into the ring you will be asked not to pet them but if you wait until they come out of the ring and are done showing for the day they will be able to say hello and maybe play a game of fetch or tug of war with you or just give you wet sloppy kisses.