Welcome And Setting The Scene

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hello again and welcome to Still Standing the Dog Show podcast brought to you by Canine Chronicle, celebrating 50, you know, it was we've been saying 50 years, but it's got to be kept getting on 51 years of excellence. That's a long time. And I remember because it was in Indiana where it started, uh, the Canine Chronicle was a newspaper. And it finally got to the point where you folded it. It was getting so thick and put it in your mailbox with a rubber band around it, and it came like a giant newspaper. And then, of course, Tom and Amy just took it to the next level and made it what it is today. And it's an amazing journey. And it's what you can do when you want to work 90 hours a day, like Tom and Amy each do to put this thing together. But anyway, thank you, Tom and Amy, for the opportunity. And thank you out there for listening and watching and reading and all that good stuff. I am here. I'm Wayne Kavanaugh, and I'm here with Kimberly Meredith. Hello, Kim. Hey. Hi. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

I'm doing great. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Wonderful. Oh well, palm trees in the background here. I don't know if you can see it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh, I know you're in Florida. I'm so jealous. You're you're you're except for the alligators and the bugs and the snakes.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

We don't have those. Not on the island. We don't allow that. They're we don't have them.

unknown 1:24

Okay.

Hudson Yards And Venue Evolution

SPEAKER_02 1:25

They they go somewhere else. They go over the mainland. We have we do have uh the occasional cougar, but you know, they live here and they go after the young men. So we're good with that. That cougar. It's all good. Anyway, we do have Panthers somewhere too, but I don't know where they are. I don't want them anywhere. But we're saying we're so far safe on the island. Anyway, except for slow drivers, you know, we don't have cars on the island. Well, we do have cars on the island, but we have hardly any traffic. You get over the bridge into the mainland of Venice, and there's traffic. So I go over there at six in the morning, and that's it. It's not open at six in the morning. I'm not going. Because on the island here, I can walk a mile to Venice Avenue on Nekomas Avenue and not see one car. In the middle of the day, it's so peaceful and quiet here. I love it. Anyway, the dog thing. The reason we're having this nice restful time is because we just got back from Westminster. And by the way, Kim, what do you think? Huh? Best ever?

SPEAKER_00 2:30

I'm I'm telling you, I'm trying to think how many years I've been going, 40, 45, you know, not as long as some of you, but for a long time. It was the most magical, exciting, emotional. The whole weekend, including the Pierina uh Dog News Dinner, was just it was over the top. It it the whole weekend. I'm still like buzzing from it. It was so exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

It was truly great. And there was so much that went into it to make it so good this year. But you've got to think about the history of Chet Kyer and Tom Bradley, who's put so much into this and is still. I still I talked to him before and after the guard, and he's so happy and proud of what they've done. You know, Donald and Michael have just done and the whole crew, the whole crew. Um and don't forget Sean. Don't forget Sean or Lane. And you know, you have you have Tommy Milner collecting tickets and um Harvey out there at the gate. I mean, it's the best team. These people work, all of them, not just Don.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Everybody. It's great. It's it's exhilarating.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

It's a great team. It's an amazing team. And to watch those guys, and I don't know, my day's not complete without seeing some of those, some of those people in the morning, especially, but and during the day, it just makes it unique. But the little things that they've done, I can tell you that Tom Bradley is so so proud. The little things the for me, it's in the grooming area, the tape on the floor. It's not just duct tape, it's yellow, it's it's golden purple Westminster logo tape.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

You bet that's the touch. That's a touch. You bet. You bet.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

That's the best.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

There's only one. There's only one. So you know, you go for it.

The Westminster Crew And Craft

SPEAKER_02 4:12

You do, and the building was the building's great, right? I mean, it really is. It's and Hudson Yards is beautiful. We went to dinner at some unbelievable restaurants, really good stuff around there. Now, when I worked there a million years ago in New York, not Hudson Yards, you didn't want to go over there. It was nothing there. Oh, there were women over there with you know they were looking for for patrons. That's the area you didn't want to go over there. And now it's really nice, and it's really gentrified. So many good things. So the area has really become the perfect place for this dog show, and it's not too far to the garden. And how they manage to get those dogs from the breed ring to the group ring every night, that's just sight, you know, those those guys, just Harry and that crew. It's just unbelievable how they pull that all off and get everybody there. So site control, wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

I wish we had a Harry crew on the West. We know we kind of did, Sergio did for a while, but it didn't never really took off like Harry and the guys. And I mean, and all let's talk about Harry for just a minute. I mean, that guy, how special is Harry Miller? When he hugs you, it's medicinal. I'm not kidding you. He just wraps his arms around you, he's the most sincere, uh, just a gentle soul. How cool is he?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

And he gets it done. You know, Mars Essex, too. That whole crew is just amazing. And Jimmy Mills, not people might now won't know him. I know him from Coon Hounds from UKC Coon Hounds. He's a really special breeder of he and his wife Lori of Red Bones and other coon hounds. And so this is not his jam, the dog show part, but he's become such a serious part of sight control. He's really into it. And Lori does show at AKC shows, and she's been very involved in the coon hound part. So it's cool to see that generation come over and uh it's all coming together. And I was thinking about this this morning. How cool that that I don't know who the youngest guy in Westminster is, as far as a member goes, but certainly Donald and Michael are among the youngest, right? And they've taken the they've taken the baton from these guys that these masters that came before them and handled it with such grace. It's beautiful to watch, it's beautiful to see. It's like a whole ballet being choreographed with 2,500 dogs and a million people in a great city. So yeah, it was special. It was special.

Tradition, Mentors, And Tom Bradley

SPEAKER_00 6:33

You know, there's there's a famous quote that Tom Bradley, you know, why when I was going to the garden for many, many years and showing, and then I was able to, thanks to Ron Minneker, to start ring stewarding and getting more involved. And you know, it's just the atmosphere and the people. But I said to Tom one year, I mean, I everything appears to just go flawlessly, like there's no problems. And I said, Tom, you know, it's just amazing how how everything looks so easy and smooth, and there's never any issues. And he kind of kind of cracked a little smile and he said, Yes, he said, we do it the duck theory of management. And I said, Really? What is that? He said, We're smooth on top and we're paddling like hell underneath.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, that's him. It's true. And you know, I I just Tom means the world to me. You know, we've he was one of my early mentors, and he's still a life mentor. I remember the phone call. Cheryl and I were married about a year, so it's 40-something years ago. That Tom called the house and said, I'm interested in talking about pointers with you. And I understand you brought this nice dog over from England, and and we just got to really be great friends. And we've traveled, Bob Whaley, the LU pointer guy, and Tom Bradley and I, and and Gay trip, Bob's wife, and we just all went over to Windsor looking for dogs, looking for cattle. Anything that Bob was interested in, Tom was it chickens. We had we had the best time. We and we did that more than once. But those travels and those trips, I learned more. For example, every time I go to dinner, when the bread comes, I have to think of Tom because he taught me how to break it and butter it the proper way. And it was, you know, 50 years ago. But he he and I'll every so I always every time I go to dinner, I get the bread comes. I look at sure, I always smile, you know. So yeah, yeah, I can't say enough about what he's done for not just me, but so many in this sport. And getting this thing right up there on the T for uh the new crew to come in and just knock it out. And I'm just thrilled. It was also special because the dogs were incredible this year. I think the groups were really terrific this year. And I it's been said a million times. Was it couldn't have been any more special for Andy to win this with David judging.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

David did such an amazing. This is David Fitzpatrick. He did such an amazing job of judging that best in the show. The words he said were genuine and not rehearsed, and they were smooth and comfortable, but his actions, his emotions, and the ring, he ran it so beautifully. Every dog got a great look, and he went way beyond anything he had to do in there to find the right dog. And I was so proud of him. And of course, Andy too. But that was amazing. You've known Andy longer than I have from on the West Coast.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Since I was a young, young, young girl, and I we used to have huge fun matches, huge fun matches uh in California. We would have like a thousand dogs, twelve hundred dogs. Yeah, and we didn't have as many shows as we have now. So these fun matches were like everybody went. You would get up at like three o'clock in the morning and you drive to wherever they were, and you and you were there all day long. It was one of those renouncing home. We hung around, we brought picnics, we did all that. And I remember Andy at the Doverman ring, and he'll probably kill me, or I'll probably hope I'm not misquoting this, but he was trying to get a handling, right? And I think he was charging like five dollars or something handlebugs, and you know, and and just honing his craft and always this polite and always kind and and you know, a really good competitor. He's just the best. And uh, I he's also funny, he has a very dry sense of humor, and he popped off a couple that I thought were really the the one when the gal from Fox was interviewing him and said, So what do you think your chances are tonight for best to go? He's like one in seven, you know, was not even cracking his smile, and it's like I was just busting up laughing, you know.

Best In Show: David, Andy, Penny

SPEAKER_02 10:33

I know so him, and the tour was great. All the news in the morning, he was terrific, and of course, Penny was phenomenal, just being a great representative for the for the a diplomat for dogs and and Dobermans. But yeah, I was gonna say you've known Andy longer than I have. I only I've only known him for like 40 years, you've probably known him for like 60. That's that's to the world. So when people say they're in the sport for 15 or 20 years, that's great, it's a really good start. But either that or we're just that old that um these things happen. It just happens.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Well, we're old. I mean, so you know, I mean, when you start showing Docs, you're like 18, and now we'll we're we're not even gonna say how old we are, you know, it it's just and what you know, I'll tell you, some years, you know, people will always use the phrase, you know, Westminster quality groups. Well, I'll tell you, there's lots of years where the groups aren't that great, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

That's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

You know, and you're like, yeah, you know, and of course, we always have a huge California entry, which I'm very proud of every year. And I'll tell you, the groups in the in the West Coast are are amazing, they really, really are. And it used to be the groups on the east coast were dominant, right? Yeah, and this year, truly, you could have, you know, props to David for sure, and his and his usual kind kind of that little smile he gets, you know. Yeah, but we could point anyway and really not be too wrong. I mean, seriously, yeah. I mean, it was that good, and and oh, what about the performance of Devin and Coda?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

I'll never forget that.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

That was I'm sitting here with goosebumps writing up my arm right now.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah, that dog, he just I mean, he was so they they were in such rhythm and such sync. And he moved with this athleticism. That's why they take their dogs and swim them and hunt them every day and retrieve. They're real, you know. Adam's really into all that and field trains all of them, and you can tell that athleticism that just I don't know, he just had it, and that was his moment. That was definitely their moment.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

It was beautiful, and you know, Devin, that's her dog, that's their dog. They live with that dog every day, and their children play with that dog, and she absolutely plus my Devin, she looked great. I mean, my gosh, she looked fabulous, she's lost a bunch of weight, she looks incredible, and she had a smile on her face, and you can see the connection between the two of them from 500 feet away. She never stopped smiling. And if you I don't know if you've seen it yet, but Tanner Conning's calling Tanner Conning, like what's Tyler's last name? Yeah, I mean, yeah, Tannery. So Tanner caught this picture, and they're both of their feet are off the ground because they're kind of running. I think it was on the downer back, and she's looking down at the dog, and he she's got the biggest smile on her face, and he's looking up at her with his head turned with his tongue high hanging out, kind of going, you know, we're doing we're having fun now. And you know, you just it's just the whole thing was electric, really.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

And and by the way, retrievers are retrievers, right? Try training a Chesapeake to do anything, they're pretty independent and stubborn little dogs, big dogs, yeah. And yeah, so that's that's an extra part of it. Every one of those dogs in that ring, though, showed their heart out. Every one of them deserved to be there. Was and you're right, it he was he had plenty of choices to make. The little thing that Andy did that blew my mind, and and I I I watched this now three or four times, when he's he comes back from his down, I don't know when it was, either just standing on his own or from down his back, whatever it was. But David's standing there and he walks behind Andy. Now, the dog is you know a couple feet away from Andy, and as as David walks around, Andy moves his hand maybe two inches, and her neck just goes with that hand. And as David's coming around, his window, what he can see at that moment is I just got goosebumps again.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, yeah.

West Coast Roots And Group Quality

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Unbelievable. We saw some masters in there, it was wonderful, it was terrific. And and more important, you know, not only is that a great Doberman, but her temperament, her personality, what she's given, what Andy, their their relationship. I mean, they are everywhere, every handler in there, you don't get there without having a bond with that dog. I remember with Coonhounds and talking about you know, training for coonhounds, there was a guy there, and we were all talking about it. And the this was the world championship, and it's it's the biggest dog event in the country because it goes on for like six months before he whittled down to the thing. And it's thousands of coonhounds all over the place hunting. But anyway, long story, but it comes down in the end the six or the four best kuns in the world are there, and they come walking into the clubhouse and they're all wagging their tails and looking at their owners or or handlers. And I remember thinking, it was a moment that I'll never forget. You can force a dog to show well, you want to be a great one, they've got to want to do it, and you've got to have that bond. And every dog in that ring was in there because they had a they had respect for each other and really adoration for each other. You can see it, you can feel it. It's just it's just, I don't know, it's beautiful to watch. I'm watching the Olympics and watching those skaters and watching all the grace of those people, and I'm thinking that's the kind of athleticism and quality and grace that we have in a lot of these sports and in our sport on the right day in the right place, and that was the right place.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Well, and also Coda that is a master hunter. I mean, that that's not easy to do, leave alone with a chessie, right? I mean, and yes, and and Adam does train professionally, but still, I mean, almost all his dogs. The other thing, speaking of that, um thing, different things, is that I loved them bringing out the agility dogs and the flyball dogs, you know, for that little demonstration. That was so fun, and I think really good for the exhibitors to realize you don't have to just get a show dog and turn left-hand circles, right? You can get out here and have fun with your dog, you can do fly ball, you can do agility, you can do all kinds of different things, you know. Of course, they can't do fast cat demonstrations there, but I thought that was really valuable information. That you here's what you can do with your pure red dogs, right?

Devin And Coda’s Electric Moment

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, and on a lot of levels. First, you know, like you said, you that's the big message, but also the subtle message to the population out there, the world watching from their couches, these dogs are athletes, they are healthy, yeah. They are they have great temperaments, and this is the kind of stuff that we have to do way better promoting things like that. I always thought it would be great if during, and I used to recommend this when I worked for NBC and Animal Planet and never went anywhere. Just give me two seconds of when the Chesapeake's going and coming or standing there, two seconds of a clip of that dog in the water or that breed in the water. Yeah. And for each breed, just a little, just a fraction of a pinch. And during that time, if we had time, when I was doing the narrating for the commentary for Crufts, we had a little more time. And we could say, this is why this dog has to look like this, because he does that, and that kind of bridges that gap and lets the people at home root for them. I just think the television has been a great has been improved every single year. They do a great job, and all the sidebars. Your work is fun to watch. I go by and see the back of your head and you know, make faces, and you know, you're too busy with your you had so much makeup on, it was extraordinary. Uh it was just I didn't think you could move your move your head.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Well, and then they he always likes to blow my hair out straight the second day. And then they don't really work, which is kind of funny. I can walk by people, they don't even know who I am, which is kind of great, you know. But the makeup and the lighting, and the people go, oh, you look so beautiful. And I go, anybody would look good with a makeup artist and the proper lighting. I mean, even when we take pictures of ourselves every year, uh because we've all kind of become very close, the announcers. And and by the way, I want to I want to thank my announcing during the daytime has been the love of my life. And I have to thank Tom Bradley from the very beginning. From the very beginning. Thank you, Tom. And also now Donning, you know, Dawn, Dr. Stewart's, excuse me. You know, it's just been, you know, originally during the daytime, Dawn and I announced together.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yes, I remember that. And I'll and I can tell I wrote Don a note, I I often do, on these sorts of things. And I said, uh, or maybe it was on the air, we were doing an interview about something else. And I said, My mother thinks you're the second best TV commentator for dogs ever. And he said, honey, my mother thinks the same exact thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Well, I can remember when he was going to become president of the club, and the discussion was about, well, how are you going to announce now? And and he said, I'm gonna try and figure out a way to do both, you know, because it really yeah. Uh daytime is a lot more difficult than evening time because it's all off the cuff. Like you go, oh, we're going to ring five. Well, you don't know what's there, and then we're bouncing to ring seven. You see, you just gotta start talking, right? Yeah, so and I love that part about it. So this was Fox's last year on their contract.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

So we'll see what about as we're speaking, we Kim and I were talking earlier. I updated we all well, I updated my operating system because they asked me to, you know, for my Mac and my i so things are happening. And right now, as I'm speaking to Kim, somehow a person had called me, is calling me, and because we have our phones off, it's now dictating his message right in front of my face on my screen. And and who and bless your heart, Cooper. Oh, Judy Cooper. Oh, it's Judy Cooper. I love Judy Cooper. She was asking me if I was able to judge, available to judge, and it's right on my screen there. Too much technology.

Dogs As Athletes And TV Storytelling

SPEAKER_00 20:14

There was one year Jason and I were announcing, and you know, they're in a truck off, you know, away from us, and all we have are TV screens. That's it. Like, and then there'll be like you know, like a box of eight rings or a box of 10 rings or whatever. And so one year for two solid hours, we had no feed. The screens were black. Yeah, and so Jason and I are there, thank God we've done it, you know, had done it for several years together. And we're looking in and they go, Okay, now we're going to ring four. And we're like, Okay, the guy's in the truck, right? So, what's in ring four breed is in there? Well, it's kind of medium size, it's brown, it's like, you know, this went on for two hours, and no one knew. No one knew, which was amazing. Yeah, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Live commentary is so much fun. I had so much fun to cruf 11 years of my life that I'll never forget. You know, the energy you get from it is it's just amazing. And working with Frank Cain as my partner, you know, and Peter Perps, Jessica Holm. I mean, it was a great team. It was an awful amazing experience, exhausting, but amazing. Anyway, Westminster in the books, I maybe because it's Andy, maybe because it was Penny, maybe because it was Dave Fitzpatrick. I think it was because of everything. It just felt special. And the 150th anniversary, Noah. So if you're gonna do something special, it just seemed like that was the day should happen. It just seemed like that should be the 150th.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

And you know, let's let's go back to the Purina dinner. You know, thank God for Purina and their sponsorships with you know, most of the top leaning dogs and for all of our dog shows, most of them. You know, it the whole evening, again, they they did a tribute to. Dottie the candy lady, who recently passed, who everybody loved. Nancy Shaw was made, put into the Hall of Fame. The, you know, it was the whole thing. It was again, it was Andy was there for, you know, representing the working group. And his and the teams behind the dogs, the whole night again, was really electrifying and emotional. And when Andy went up there, I mean, everybody, it was like a standing ovation for it seemed like forever. And what a great evening. And thank you, Pirina, you know, and Dog News for a special, special evening.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

When uh we we all did the little videos for Andy's, a little celebration they had for him. This is way before the garden, with Palm Springs, I guess. And it was just you sent in video clips. And and one of the things I said, my video clip was that you're the only guy in the sport that can stand 20 feet away from your dog and not look stupid doing it. And he proved it again.

unknown 22:55

He proved it again.

Daytime Announcing And Live TV Chaos

SPEAKER_00 22:58

I was ill and I couldn't do my video, unfortunately, because Billy Fatten called me and said, Please send one in. But I used to do a little vignette of Andy, and because you know, back even in the fun matches, he was perfecting standing back. What what other breed, right? And I used to do this thing where I I would pretend like I was making the door making little sandwiches where you stand there and the dog, you know, little sandwich. And um, and and so the judge would be looking and looking, and then he'd be ignoring everybody else, all of us in the ring, and be staring at Andy. And then Andy would kind of just turn his head and then turn back to the dog, turn his head, turn back the dog. And I said, He used to here's what I said. Here's what's running through Andy's mind. I don't have to do anything, I'm Andy Lin.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

I don't have to do anything because I've done my I've practiced a lot. That's why you don't know exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

I don't have to do anything, I just have to stand here. I'm Andy Luton. God bless him. God bless him.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Just amazing, one of the best and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet in the sport. Yes, we're just so lucky to have those guys. And we have we have Bruce Bruce Schultz, too. I mean, the nicest guy in the world. We were able to have dinner, which is rare. It's hard to get that those moments. And I just love that guy. And you talk about another one who was always positive. Everybody loved him, always a diplomat for the sport, never whined. When he when he just couldn't believe he Bruce, this is Bruce Wartz, uh, Bruce Schultz. He he said to me more than once, I don't understand. When people come out of the ring and they're mad, it's over. It's a dog show the next day. Why would you possibly get mad at that? Yeah, you know, only Schultz could, and he just he's amazing. So we had a wonderful dinner with Tom and Amy and Tara, and we just had a wonderful time. That's it. And then the other nights, I went, that was the last night. The other nights I went to my hotel that I'm not telling anybody where it is, because I'm the only one who stays there, and it's wonderful. I don't want any other dog people. I don't want any dogs.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

You're gonna have to give me off.

unknown 24:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

I don't want I don't want to hear any dogs. When I get on the elevator, I want no one to be speaking anything, but no dog talk. Just but anyway, there's a nice little restaurant there, and I'd go, I you know, we're stewarding all day. It's you're on your feet all day. And then you get back and you walk. I walked up from the Javits most nights, one night. It was too cold for that. But you get back to your room at six o'clock and you have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, and you're in bed at 7:30, sitting back, watching the groups, baby. It's the best. Yeah, yeah. And tonight a bunch of us were out to dinner. Everyone's like, we could walk right back over to the gardens, right? I mean, to to the well, we walk up to the garden, wasn't far. It was like, so we started walking up to the garden, and one by one, we're like, nah, I'm going to bed. Now I'm going to bed.

unknown 25:35

No, I'm going to bed.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

We just watch it from your room.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

That goes back to being old as well. Old. And you know, and it's cold. February is, I know it's tradition. And I, you know, I've never really asked anybody or talked to anybody in the club about it, but I sure like that May date. And of course, we needed to get back to Jabis. Jabus is a it was genius. We needed to get back to the garden, but do we need to get it in February? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

The tradition is February, I guess. I it's so cold.

Why This Year Felt So Special

SPEAKER_00 26:05

It's well, and also the poor California people, the West Coast people, where a lot of the entries come from, they had an embargo hit the day they were supposed to.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Oh, yes, that's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

You know, and they're and they were like looking into chartering air airplanes and the panic going through everybody. And then, you know, it was to the point where they almost didn't have time. They were gonna have to get in their cars and drive like within hours.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

And some did, yeah, some did. Yeah, at least flew halfway and drove halfway. Yeah, that's tough. It would be better for that for and for shipping dogs in general. Uh in general. So, yeah, May would be great. But then again, you know, I don't think you just call up Jacob and say, Hey Jav, I'd like to move to May. Give me a counterverter, you know, it doesn't work that way. It's a little more difficult.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Like we have a request, we're cold. We would like, yeah, we would like it to be.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

We don't want to walk our IGs in the street and it's cold weather.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

It would be ideal. Let's just say in most of our minds, it would be ideal if we could get April, May, something like that. And probably virtually impossible, or it would be done, I'm sure. I don't know. Maybe not, because tradition, you know, people are into tradition.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

So I can tell you that from trying to book hauls in the past for certain events, it's every can you there are there are it's 10 zillion countries, 10 zillion organizations all wanting the Javit Center. So it's not like you just pick a date, you know, someone's gotta die or go out of business before you get in there.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

So well, that's why they ended up at at the Billy Jean uh club, which you know was was fabulous, but expensive, and there's no gate. There's no gate.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

And for the people, it's great. But with that 150th anniversary, been as special out there, and I love the Billy Jean. I'm telling you, that was my favorite place. I judged there, I stewarded there, I loved it out there. Yeah, but the it's not as special in that in that arena, which is beautiful, even holds as many people, I think, as as the gardener. I don't know, maybe it doesn't, I don't know. Whatever it was, it didn't feel the same. And and having the garden was great. Of course, I wasn't there again.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Kudos to the guys in charge for finding a place number one that you know and making that making that whole thing work. I mean, they're again, you go, they just perform magic, they really do.

Purina Dinner And Hall Of Fame

SPEAKER_02 28:24

I it's I mean and it's all the members. I'm telling you, every one, every member of Westminster has something to do with it, and they all work hard at it. And it's just, you know, when you see, I mean, Tommy Mooner is one of my favorite people, anyway. When you see that guy out there collecting tickets with his background and his experience, just because he loves it so much, it's just it's brilliant. And the year, the first year when they went to Jabbitz and the agility got oversold and people were fierce, they had a ticket and couldn't get in. He was out there making refunds, him and Hard and everybody. I mean, it was the best. Yeah, I know it's we live in a wonderful world. Um, we're still excited about this show. Uh a month.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I am. I've I've been wired about this. I mean, and I wasn't feeling particularly well during the whole thing, but it you know, it you just I'm still wired about it. I mean, like I'm like, let's do a podcast, let's talk about Westminster, you know. It's some it's one that I will never ever ever forget. I don't think any of us will.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

No, it was a special one. And and and people were good about saying Westminster instead of Westminster. That's always nice. And it's it's at the garden now, it's not at the gardens. We don't do the gardens. The gardens is up in Toronto, that's the gardens. But we have the garden, the garden.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

The garden, yeah. It's like the national.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Yeah, and I won the nationals and you won the national. Okay, and we hear there's so much more. One of the ones, and I've mentioned this before on the air and in writing. When people say he's out of buck, I all I can think of is that must hurt poor buck, you know. He's out of the bitch, he's by buck. But that would be painful for poor buck. We're not gonna do that anymore. Stop with that. He's by buck or he's by Joe. No, it's not possible. He's by him. He sired by or sired by out of the bitch's womb. There you go. There you go. That's the way it works. And for those who failed biology, you there's a little refresher for you. Anyway, where are you heading next, Kim? I've got I've tried to take March off so far, so good, because I love it down here on my little golf cart.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Uh, I am so old, but you you want to we had to bring a picture of your fancy golf cart to show them your golf cart.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

It's pretty special. Very exciting. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

It's it's pretty cool. His golf cart probably costs more than like bars. Seriously.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Yeah, yeah, but they're wonderful. And and I love buzzing around in it. It's pretty funny. It is because we'll if if it's if it's on the island, we have a Publix, which is a grocery store, Jane out. You're a big one, right? It's a nice one, and we have a Babe's Ace Hardware, which is one of those places where you go in with one screw and the guy goes, Yeah, we got one over here.

The Art Of Handling And Presence

SPEAKER_00 30:52

You know, I don't you love those? It's the best. Speaking of hardware, you go in there for that screw and a pair of muck boots. You're getting a book.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Absolutely. And by the way, speaking of Tom Bradley, his family's Bradley Hardware Store was like that, but gigantic. It was the biggest hardware store you ever saw, and they had that same kind of service. It was an extra, it was a great business. I still did in New Jersey, no, Watertown, New York, where Tom's.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

In Watertown. In Watertown, okay.

unknown 31:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Right there.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

You couldn't afford to do that now in Watertown.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

No, you couldn't. You couldn't. And you know, the big box stores came in anyway, so that was all done. But it was a great store. Anyway, so with the hardware store and the grocery store, I don't need to leave the island for anything because all the art galleries are here, all the plays, all the shows, all the uh the shopping. If you really want to go spend forty thousand dollars on a shoe, they've got that here. But you can do whatever you can go anywhere anywhere you need to go is right here. I'm selling this island. I don't know. But now bring your checkbook unless you want to shit down our end of the island where it's a little less expensive. We had, and I stole this, I think, from Britt Young's husband, but he talks about Evergreen, Colorado being this way. Here in Venice, it's the haves and the have lots. That's down there. They start at like 20 million.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Yeah, but it's a great place. Anyway, dogs all over the place. We have our our farmers market every Saturday, and it's full of purebred dogs. Every this week, Shiba Inu, Nova Scotia Ductonian Retriever, Soft Coat of Wait and Terrier. It's just purebred dogs. It's wonderful. You see a couple doodles, which is our fault, by the way. We'll get to that someday. Yeah, we spay new role of purebred dogs and wonder why we're full of doodles. Genius as we are. Anyway, enough of that. It's time to go watch the Olympics. Women's hockey's gonna be on soon. I'm so excited about the Olympics this year because it's ice stuff and I like ice stuff.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Oh, I know, I know. And then well, let's just talk briefly, just briefly. Let's talk about because you know, there's politics and stuff in every I don't care if you're showing dogs, you're playing chickens, you're on your ice skating, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Tom Bradley used to show chickens too. This is a Tom Bradley show. He used to show chickens too. I'm not kidding. He did.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

What about that incredible American team? And I I should know their names and mine don't right now. I know and and and getting basically ripped off by the French judge, you know, that was really unbelievable. And so it happens in every sport and everything that you participate in.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

It's heartbreaking, really what's it is heartbreaking, but you know, and this is to relate back to dogs. There are dogs that never set any records that people always remember because they were the best ones. That's true. That's true, and that it's it's shocking. Somebody I feel so bad. I don't know names. Yeah, it's too monosyllabic, you know, simple, and I can't think of their names, but they were unbelievable. And the French judge graded somebody else eight points higher than anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Eight or nine, right?

February Vs May And Logistics

SPEAKER_02 34:00

And I can tell you that many years ago, NBC Sports hired us. It was Terry Stacy, John Mandeville, and I, and we put together a show for the AKC in Baltimore. And it was an NBC sports spectacular, it was really a cool thing, and it was a knockoff with judging. And you had three judges, maybe five, odd number. And for best in show, the they did the scorecard thing where each person marked their scores. One judge who will go nameless had a very different scorecard than everybody else. And the result, as a result, Eddie's looks beagle, Judy, who should have easily won best and show because she had the most first place choices out of the five, maybe it was seven. The most first place choices. She didn't win because somebody else tanked her. It happens everywhere, Kim.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

It happens everywhere. It happens.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

No one's gonna forget big Eddie's first Beagle Judy, the the big winning that he did with her.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Well, let's hearken back to Corky with Iron Eyes.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Yeah. At the Garmin.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

I mean, there you can't pay for advertising like that. You know, when he mean, it was like the talk of the for a year, two years, it was the talk, you know.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

So there's so many of those Westminster stories in my heart. You know, the the last year when I worked for Forsyths, the last year that they I wasn't working for them then, I was off to being an adult of some kind, but they were it was their last year showing dogs there, and Bob had the whip it, Bobby Barlow had the pug, and Bob didn't win. And it would have been nice to go out with that Lang started. Yeah, yeah, the pug ran really fast. The pug never ran. No pug was ever shown faster. Barlow has big long legs. The pug had a big off the way. But anyway, enough of that.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

All right, here we go. Anyway, enjoy the Olympics, as always. I love being with you, talking with you, all of that.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

It's fun. We only get to do which sometimes are only catching up because of our schedules, is this exactly?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Yeah, it's yeah, all right, okay. Uh Hudson Cheryl. Thanks everyone for listening. We really appreciate it. Any comments you have, we'd love to hear. Let us know.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Yep, and you can get Kim's email address and the judging and the judges thing. You can even get anything. So that's where we send it all right over there. And by the way, congratulations to Hillary Zimmerman and Kimberly Meredith on their incredible best of breed win with clicker. Beautiful bitch. She probably says a clico, but it's and it was I was there, I got goosebumps, and I even I even might have got a little geflimped, flip flipped, something like that. Yeah, it was really beautiful. It was fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Oh, thank you, thank you. It was the most exciting, you know, of all the years I've gone, I've stewarded, I've judged many times, and which is an honor beyond belief. I've done my broadcasting, but there's nothing like having a dog of yours that to be she even shown there, you know. Yeah, it's amazing.

Members’ Work And Problem Solving

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Yeah, best and show with the beagle wasn't bad, but I didn't breed her. It was different. I didn't breed her, it wasn't mine, but it wasn't mine, it was different, it was still exhilarating. But I was so happy for the woman who did breed her uh and owner, Lori Crandlemeyer. Um boy, so yeah, we all have our moments onward and upward, ladies and gentlemen. It's off to the Olympics. Wishing you all the best, and we'll see you soon, right here on the Canine Chronicles Dog Show podcast. Still standing with Wayne Kavanaugh.

unknown 37:36

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

Bye, everyone.