Going To The Dogs

New York City


I can remove the Westminster Kennel Club Show from the list of the countless things I want to see, learn and do. I entered Madison Square Garden late this morning to join a world that too many of us only know from the pantomime of the Best in Show movie. Well, actually, from my astonishingly accessible vantage point on the Garden’s floor and in the staging areas, I have to admit that the movie and the real-life scene shared much in common. The fussing and primping, the anxieties and adrenaline, and the countless oddities were all in evidence. Oh yes, and then there were the dogs, too.

The 132nd edition of this extravaganza featured 2,627 entries from among 169 breeds organized into seven groups such as herding or sporting. I looked skyward toward the Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley banners at one point and thought, “I know nothing about this world.” Of course, that’s what makes it fun. Let the learning commence. I watched parades of dalmatians, sheepdogs, wolfhounds, bloodhounds, chow chows and even dachshunds with their hopeful, sometimes hilarious handlers.

So go ahead. Take a day and come to New York City for this extraordinary show. After all, one has to love a competition in which out-of-shape people are expected to run around the floor of Madison Square Garden. And what’s not to like about an event whose program unabashedly educates the reader about bitches?
 
p.s. I will finally be seeing Les Paul perform tonight at the Iridium (See entry, Onward Mort Sahl, August 28, 2007). At age 92, this guitar and recording virtuoso is reportedly as strong as he is irreverent at these Monday night lovefests. Keith Richards once said that “without Les Paul, generations of flash little punks like us would be in jail or cleaning toilets."