By I started the morning grabbing a coffee and scone from Mia’s bakery again. Today we are headed to the Javits Center for Day 1 of the dog show. Another cold morning in NYC. We arrived 9ish for a day of dogs. The center is divided into the benching area where the dogs are prepared for their big moment and the show area where there are 10 rings in operation from 9 until probably about 4, judging all sizes and shapes of pure breed dogs. I feel slightly judged when I tell someone about Mavis the chiweenie (I can hear Draco in my head muttering ‘filthy mudblood’).
We got our picture taken with Monty, last year’s winner. He is a giant schnauzer…and sweet as can be. When I turned around, the ladies scattered to the winds, which surprised me a bit. I was told ahead of time that I should go to the ‘shop’ as items tend to sell out quickly, so I dutifully headed there to pick out a limited edition 150th anniversary ornament and a lavender t-shirt.
The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the dogs. There wasn’t a particular breed I wanted to see, so I just bounced around from ring to ring. The whole judging process is fascinating. The judges take their job very seriously, though I’m not always sure why they pick one dog over another. If you’ve seen Christopher Guest’s ‘Best in Show’, this is exactly like that. In fact we watched it in our hotel rooms last night in preparation. My friend loves Silkie Terriers, so I went over to the benching area to find them and look at all the behind the scenes prep work. I met the Best in Breed for the Silkies – he has better hair than most women. I think his name was Jack and his mom’s name was Tuxedo.
Ironically or not ironically, we ate hot dogs for lunch. The afternoon was much of the same – show area, ring area, show area, ring area. I think today was mostly the small dogs, which is right up my alley. And of course the people watching is fantastic. Back in the benching area, they have a place for the dogs to get a massage (but not a place for the humans, alas).
Once the show was done we headed back to our hotel. The gals were worn out, so we ordered DoorDash to the room. Time to rest and recuperate for a full day tomorrow.
But where is my luggage? Glad you asked. It has been sitting in a warehouse in New Jersey since Saturday. I’ve been ‘chatting’ with a Walmart service person regarding its status. Apparently they can’t process a return/refund yet because the bag has already shipped. I leave on Wednesday with or without the new suitcase. More to come…
