Had a lovely day around the Basenji ring. It was nice to catch up and have a chat.
A Big Well Done to everyone xxx
Westminster 2011 - Basenji
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I tried both Firefox and IE, can't get it to play
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Jess you are so right about the video coverage! If only Crufts did the same. We get the same rubbish every year no matter who is covering it, BBC or More4! Westminster have got it right.
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Our basenji was the only one there who was not benched (and I use the term benched loosely) in the multi-breed professional handlers section. We met a LOT of people and she had her picture taken many times. She was also sketched by an artist visiting the show! She was really really tired by the end of the day….
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I heard that because of all the work being done at the Garden, it was/is a real mess!!! And honestly, I do not like Bench shows. While it is great for the public, for exhibitors and especially the dogs, it is very, very long day. There is a bench show in SF (Golden Gate Kennel Club) and it used to be two days…. by the end of the 2nd day you were about ready to scream... They have now made it two shows over two days, so you are not required to be there both days if you only enter one day. Much easier to take! My one Basenji, Mickii years ago would get in her crate, flip over her round bed so that it covered her completely with maybe a nose or foot sticking out to "zone out"... and she loved people, getting pets and treats...
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Pat, It was a HUGE mess the dogs were all thrown in together by group not breed. It was very chaotic and some people just don't know how to cooperate when it comes to sharing space. I was told that it will be an even bigger mess for the average exhibitor next year as they expect to lose even more space in the benching area. I don't know about the space that the handlers had, but it looked spacious compared to what we had. There were no actual benches. Everything was on the concrete floor. We barely had room for our crate, let alone enough room to stand right in front of it. We will probably never do it again. My dog did outright ask to be allowed to retreat to her crate more than once. It can be fun but very overwhelming for both the dogs and the people. Having to stand for over 8 hours was no thrill either.
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Sad to hear about the chaos surrounding the Westminster Dog Show. I have watched the show for years, and it always comes across as first class. Of course, when you look behind the door…
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The WKC does their best and I have to give them credit for pulling this show off and making it look great. There were WKC reps all over the place trying to help people. Part of the problem is that The Garden is being renovated. I'm sure that The Garden imposes all kinds of rules on the club and I know that the night before opening day the cleaning crew came in and washed off all of the chalk markings indicating where tables and crates were supposed to go so that didn't help. All in all I am glad we did it and we did meet some great people. The spectators were very nice. We have done one other benched show and it wasn't so bad because we had a nice amount of space and were allowed to sit. The dogs were more relaxed too because they had more room to move around. Pat is right though, benched shows are very tiring and at the end of even one days all I want to do is go hide somewhere. The weirdest/hardest part is lining up to get out. You are not allowed to exit the building with any equipment or the dog until 8PM. People started lining up well before that. We got in line at 7:30. When the line started moving we moved pretty fast, we thought we were headed for the freight elevator but were funneled onto a fairly long, steep and curved driveway ramp. Kind of frightening for some of the people with multiple dogs on their cart. Some folks had to have someone walk down the ramp backwards in front of their carts to keep them from going too fast - it was that steep.
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Thanks for the video that was great. At least a hound won but I cannot say I am sorry that is was not the Basenji becasue we all know if a Basenji won everyone would want one and then what a mess.
Rita Jean
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Last night on NBC national news, they had a segment on the Westminster and during it, several times they showed the Basenji judging! I'm wondering if the reporter (who, according to Brian Williams is a dog lover) has Basenjis…?
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I might be late in the game, here. But have you seen this video? I like that they make a nod to Basenji naughtiness!
http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/15/basenji-the-135th-westminster-kennel-club-dog-shot-video/
