The simple things that we who live in the ‘country’ take for granted became big issues once we got into the city. It was a stroke of luck that Giddy (Kathy's whippet) decided he had to go NOW on the way down, and we stopped to ex the dogs. Considering that it would be several hours before the little darlings would be able to go again, we owed Giddy a huge Thank You!

Once we checked into the hotel, it was time to get the crate and all the ‘show junk’ over to the Garden. Remember the glamor? Well, first we crossed the street in front of the hotel, praying that we wouldn’t be hit by a car. Then, after a short hike down the street, we started up a ramp, where a very gruff man directed us toward an area that quite frankly looked like a dump. From there, we headed up a small ramp, around a corner, down the hall and waited for our turn in the decidedly unglamorous freight elevator (or the "moving room," as it would come to be considered by our dogs).

Our first glimpse of the Garden was trash, broken down cardboard boxes, bread (a delivery was coming in), zambonies, and pallets of "stuff" wrapped in plastic. After a short ride up to the 5th floor we went down a long hall with signs telling us where to go and when to turn. Finally, we were in the benching area. We quickly found the bench where Hailey would spend the greater part of the next day.

By this time Kathy and I were getting a bit punchy - the stress of getting ready to leave, driving down, checking in and moving into our room, and now we had to put a crate together that, well, neither of us had ever put together before! A friend had loaned us a crate because of the size restriction, and this still boggles my mind: Boxers, whippets and Tibetan Terriers were all assigned to use the same size crate! Kathy's Whippet weighs 39 lbs, TT's average about 20 lbs and Hailey weighs in at about 60 lbs!

Okay, back to the Garden. Kathy and I laughed ourselves silly trying to put this crate together. It was an old Safari crate that was in two pieces and sort of snapped together. Finally we got it together and took a short walk around to figure out where we would be in relation to the rings. Then a short visit to Cherry Brook. Feeling sure that all was well and in place, we started back to the hotel, ex'd and fed the dogs, fed ourselves, and settled in to wait until the next time we had to ex the dogs. Incidentally, there was a high school ice hockey game going on in the area that would shortly become our rings - just another day in the life of the Garden (So who's stressed????). For our final ex'ing of the evening, it was pouring. Hailey, who has white socks, came back in with black points. I threw her in the tub and got more grease and goo off her than you can imagine. Her pink skin was bright red from the irritation. Ahh...the city life!

Did I mention that we took an ‘extra' dog with us? Since Giddy was showing on Tuesday and Hailey on Monday, we took Squeaky, my plain brindle girl. That way no one would have to stay in the room alone. This turned out to be wonderful for the two show dogs AND for Squeaky!

Monday morning we got up at 6 AM for 9 AM ring time. We pulled on our clothes and headed out into the daylight of NYC. Oops! - no daylight, and it was still damp from the rain the night before. As we came down the hall and around the corner a man came out of his room and started to GROWL at our dogs! It was 6:15 or 6:30 in the morning and a strange man was growling at the dogs!!! Squeaky, the extra dog, squared off, threw her tail up ramrod straight - every hackle in a strip 3 to 4 inches wide standing straight up - and started barking with everything she had. Don't be fooled by her name - Squeaky's voice is anything BUT squeaky. It comes from the bottom of her toenails and is as deep as she is petite! This seemed to be just what this sometimes shy girl needed. She came out of her shell in the Big Apple and was on the lookout for the "growler" every time we came out of our room.

While the dogs ate, I got ready. Like most hotels, our room had become a sauna, so you can imagine how much fun it was pulling on those pantyhose! Just before 8 AM, we headed over to the Garden, made our way through the check-ins and headed up through the trash, bread, etc. (but no zambonies that morning). A short ride up in the freight elevator, and we started TRYING to get to our bench with masses of people blocking the way.

I'd been told that we should pray for the dogs near us to not show up. I guess our prayers worked, because the dog to our right was nowhere to be seen. I used that bench for a grooming table and got Hailey ready. Once ready, we headed to the ring. That in itself was about a 10 minute trip because of all the people. You know, the ones who have nowhere to go and want to discuss some vital issue right in the middle of the aisle in front of you. Finally, we got to our ring, only to find that it was already several people deep around the ring. I had to pick my way through to get Hailey's number, then pick my way back to wait until we got our ring call. At most shows you wait to hear the national anthem. Much to my surprise there was nothing - no announcement, no idea that it was now 9 AM and time to go in the ring. With no fanfare, the steward asked to have the dogs enter the ring before the bitches in catalog order. You know how spectators position themselves in the gate of a ring? More so than at most shows, these people were not at all happy that we exhibitors had the audacity to want to get by them to get in the ring. Isn't that why they were in the gate??? To see our dogs in the ring???

Hailey and I were next to the last in line. Ample time to set up. As we were doing this, I saw Mrs. Irene Bivin, our judge, and her steward walking around the ring handing little purple pouches to each person in the ring. (Hailey of course wanted to know what Mrs. Bivin was giving me. :-) Then it was time for business - we were on the floor of Madison Square Garden, the green carpet at the Westminster Kennel Club's first show of the new millennium! After a walk down the line that extended three-fourths of the way around our ring, we were asked to move all the dogs together. Once we all moved, Mrs.Bivin asked the bitches to go to the holding area. She then split the dogs into two groups and did her individual exams on the first group, put them into the holding area and examined the second group of dogs. The first group was asked to return and a cut was made. Those that made the cut were given strict instructions to STAY in the holding area.

Then the bitches were asked to return to the green carpet. It was clear that as the day wore on, this carpet was going to be more slippery than any wet grass you've ever shown on. But isn't that what tacky paw, water - or better yet, soda - are made for?

We moved as a group. Then individual examines began. As always, Mrs.Bivin was very nice to all the dogs as she checked them. I must say that I am very glad that she was the one with this enormous job. The large number of Working Breed judges who had moved in to watch Boxer judging, I'm sure, complicated her task! While we were in the holding area someone asked me if I was nervous. Strangely, I wasn't. Not at all. Perhaps it was the surreal atmosphere of this show.

As Hailey got on the floor she started to fight with me a bit. She didn't want me to stack her correctly. Suddenly, she looked around and the light bulb went off "Oh I'm at a dog show - not a class. Okay, I'm a show dog!" This after over a month of Hailey being awful at every class I took her to! No, actually she was beyond awful, she was proving that she is every inch a bitch! Hailey does what we call "Pissy Face" when she doesn't want to do something. There is no other way to describe this look she gets and the antics she pulls. And we'd just gone through over a month of the queen brat, with "Pissy Face." And suddenly she remembers how to be a good girl. What glorious timing!

As I moved up in line waiting for my turn, I free baited Hailey to keep her attention. She is a very intense dog and I have always had to work the entire time I show her or she finds other things to do including¼.Pissy Face! Then we were next. As the bitch in front of me started to move, I set Hailey up. She focused on something outside the ring. That allowed me to just hold her collar and tail, with her "at attention." When Mrs. Bivin got to her head, Hailey greeted her with her signature twirling tail wag. She was the next to the last Boxer to be examined. As Mrs. Bivin went to open Hailey's mouth, I noticed her hands were shaking. The question from the holding area about being nervous rang in my ears. I saw a pair of shaking hands that weren't mine and said to myself, "I'm cool!" The only one under pressure is standing in front of my bitch.

Back to Top

After the last bitch was examined, Mrs. Bivin went down the line and then asked the bitches to move as a group. The dogs that made the cut were asked to return. We were asked to move again, twice around, and Mrs.Bivin started pulling dogs out - first Storybook Rip it up and Caxias Clay of ET Power. She moved them individually, then together. They were directed to the head of the line. Then HiTech's Johnny J of Boxerton was pulled out, moved and put back in line. Another dog was pulled out and moved and put behind ‘Clay’ and ‘Jake.’ Johnny was right behind those three. Mrs. Bivin then pulled out two bitches and put them in behind Jake and Clay. The rest of the bitches were asked to go around as a group and she excused us to the holding area.

Our time in the ring of Westminster was over. So we watched until the end and saw that at the last second, Johnny was pulled out to the front of the line, with Rummer Run's Stardust second, and Clay and Jake behind them. Boxers were finished and all of the Working judges headed off. Then it was back to the bench to find out what was in that purple pouch that I'd slipped into my pocket before the judging started.

To commemorate the year 2000, all participants were given a medallion with the club logo and year on one side and the dates on the other. They've never done this before. We learned over the next two days that people were stealing the medallions, as they instantly became a collector's item.

If you've never gone to a benched show before, it is something you won't forget. I'd not been to a benched show since I was a kid, and after a short time I remembered why! The idea of a benched show is to give the public the opportunity to talk to breeders, owners and handlers of breeds that they might be interested in - a way to learn about a breed before buying a dog. For those on the bench, it is HOURS of standing or sitting or leaning so that the public can see your dog.

Some people decorate their crates and have lots of literature, cards and information to give to people. Others get grumpy looks on their faces so even the most jaded New Yorker knows to stay away from this person because they just might BITE! As I mentioned before, the dog to my right did not show up, so after a respectful time - 3 or 4 minutes - I suggested to the girl next to me we should take the panels out. She leaped to her feet, grabbed the panels and took them out. We moved my crate over to the right and she and I sat in the empty spot between our crates. The importance of this is that you cannot put chairs in the aisle. Seems the Fire Marshall gets a bit testy if there isn't easy access into, out of and around the benching area. Clearly the Fire Marshall has never been to a dog show!

One thing that people don't realize during the 11:30 AM to 8 PM benching time, is, if your dog is off the bench for an extended length of time, or you are not with the dog, you can be suspended! I'm sure you'll see suspension notices in the next Gazette. I saw many empty crate areas, or dogs left unattended with little white papers attached to the benches stating the time it was noticed the dog was absent or unattended.

One thing everyone will tell you about the benching area is that it is going to be HOT and gets hotter as time wears on. We were very lucky in two respects: Someone didn't show up so we had more than enough space to sit with our dogs, and we were right under an air-conditioning vent. This vent was huge! We got COLD while we sat on the bench. Everyone in the place was sweating and my neighbor and I have jackets or sweaters on - things we took off to go outside. It was warmer outside than in our corner of the Garden !!!! A very nice problem to have. We even had to turn the fans off our dogs, because they were getting chilly!

Perhaps one of the most surprising things to me were the number of private guards that had been hired to watch over the dogs! For a fee (heard to be $150/day) an agency sent a person to stand in front of your dog's crate so you didn't have to stay. Okay, now we are talking the sublime - as an owner-handler, $150 means about 7 dog show entries.

Another bad part of being benched is you cannot see any of the dog show unless someone else watches your dog. We would hear from time to time who had won what. As we got tired sitting on the bench, it didn't take much to amuse us, and the exhibitor next to us with a different breed did help: As noted, the Boxer next to us didn't show up. This was supposed to be the last Boxer in the line. The first dog of the next breed was also not in attendance, or so we thought. At one point Kathy put her chair up in this empty bench. Well this seemed to irritate the woman in the second spot of this breed. She suddenly got right in Kathy's face and told her that she would have to move because "I have 3 dogs entered so I have 3 spots and you are in one of them." So Kathy took her chair out of the slot. Then "Ms. Irritation" took everything that she had under her bench and packed it into that slot. The slot on the other side of her was absolutely EMPTY!

About a half hour later a women walked up with a dog of this breed with a film crew in tow and told our irritated friend that she would have to remove her stuff from the slot, because it was hers!!! Turns out Ms. Irritation had not entered 3 dogs, she was just having a bad day and thought Kathy should be responsible for it.

Because of the storms in North Carolina, many people did not receive their entries before they left for the show. At 7:15 PM, people who did not have their entry card had to go to the Superintendent to get a form to release their dog from the building. By 7:30, people were beginning the move toward the ramp or freight elevator to escape the Garden. You had to do it quietly though, because if you left before 8 PM you could be suspended. So after a day spent sitting on the bench playing with the pencils, you had to wait until 8 PM to leave the building.

Does the time of 8 PM sound familiar to you? As you sit at home, what time do you turn on the USA channel to watch the groups? 8 PM, did you say? Yup, that's right, exhibitors were not allowed to leave the building until the groups had started. That means if your breed is in the first group, you are probably going to miss seeing it. Or you'll get to see it on TV in your hotel room.

Think how silly that is! You are in NYC, and a couple of football fields away is Roger Caras and the green carpet of the Westminster KC show and where are you??? Sitting on your bed in your hotel room watching the dog show on TV. And yes that is just where I saw the end of the Working Group - about 16 stories up across the street in the postage stamp sauna!! Apparently a lot of people YEARLY question why, since judging is done by 6 PM, dogs can't leave before 8 PM (even 7:00 would be better). The other thing that is questioned is why you must leave all your stuff in the building until 8 pm. People wondered what harm there would be in removing the paraphernalia while someone stayed on the bench with the dog. No one seemed to have an answer. These were the conversations we heard as we stood in the masses of people waiting to make that mad dash out of the building so they could return and watch the groups.

Another difference this year was that the top 5 dogs of each breed were invited (as long as they were CH's of record; only 4 in Anatolian Shepherd Dogs were eligible as the #5 dog was not yet a CH). It meant that those of us whose entries made it into MBF before the show closed were up against the top dogs in our breed.

This was a very exciting, tiring day, that at times seemed to be a lot of work for nothing. But the "nothing" that you get is a large number of Working Group judges watching your ring from beginning to end, and the spectators and competitors get to see your dog with all the "Big Names." As the day ended I was still very up but I knew I had to go to sleep - whippets were Tuesday at 9 AM.

One last thing: The glamour, mystique, wonder and excitement of the Garden...one step into the ring with your Champion at the end of your lead and it all becomes clear! It hits you square between the eyes - with more glamour-mystique-wonder- excitement than anyone can imagine until you are there! It is something everyone should do at least once. Maybe you’ll be there next year... at the Garden!