And a terrier wins Best in Show at Westminster last night! Sky, a 5-year old Wire Fox terrier is the 46th terrier to win at Westminster – the most of any group. She is the 14th Wire Fox terrier to win! Way to go, terriers! We were lucky to meet Sky at Bonhams art gallery – she is a beauty! She also won at the National Dog Show and the AKC Eukanuba event — she is a triple crown winner!
Sky wins at Westminster
Sky’s handler, Gabriel Rangel, also led Scottish terrier, Sadie, to the winners circle in 2010! She also came to Bonhams for a meet and greet!
So mom finally found something that I won’t do for food! I won’t walk on a doggy treadmill. Even if there is a big plate of food enticing me along the way! We checked out the very cool doggy gym at the Hotel Pennsylvania this weekend. They had DogTread treadmills, a FitPAWS dog gym, and even an Affordable Agility area to practice agility! We have the “agility in a bag” set at home!
Treadmill: My doggy friends LOVED it! It was easy to use and could fold down for storage. The DogTread small unit is $799 and has a 2-year full warranty. This is pawfect for pups who need exercise and can’t get out for a walk. Unfortunately we are the small percentage of pups who don’t like to walk on treadmills. (Some humans don’t like treadmills either!)
FitPAWS: LOVED this! Doggy balancing balls and equipment helping us with our core strength. And a great bonding activity with our human.
Agility: Our favorite of the 3! We have both taken agility classes and this is so much fun! Mom loves it, too! We get to run and jump and zoom through tunnels. The Affordable Agility “agility in a bag” is a perfect starter pack for the beginner dog.
Did we tell you we love this time of year when the Westminster dogs take over New York City?! One of our fave annual events each February is the Barkfest at Bonhams on Madison Avenue. What could be better than dogs, art, and biscuits? And the event also raises money for the AKC Humane Fund!
Dogs and Art!
The brunch is a fun preview to the Dogs in Show & Field fine art sale taking place February 12. There are beautiful paintings, pins, plates, sculptures — all with a doggy theme! A John Martin Tracy painting valued at over $100,000 is one of the show stoppers! This year they had 2 showrooms with so much to look at:
Best of all they had homemade doggy biscuits and a nice goody bag. We got our own bag of Ryan’s Barkery treats and some other cool stuff.
Happy 10th anniversary to the New York Pet Fashion Show! One of the hardest working doggy moms, Ada Nieves, started a small fashion show 10 years ago and it has blossomed into an annual event with over 1,000 attendees. That is an admirable accomplishment!
Our gown designed by Dawn Deisler
Each year the event raises money for a different animal rescue — this year it was the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. We loved the extra focus on doggy adoption and rescue this year! Adoptable pups walked the runway and over 400 rescued pups sent in rescue stories to win “rescue of the year” – a new contest for the 10th anniversary. We had our money on Beau Loevner, NYC therapy dog extraordinaire, but another deserving pup won. Shotsi the terrier alerted his family when their 16-month old baby was choking. Congrats to Shotsi on her win as rescue of the year! Kudos to all of the folks who adopt dogs and help them find forever homes!
Gems of Rescue Runway Show – one of several throughout the evening. This show features adoptable dogs!:
Held at the Hotel Pennsylvania in Midtown Manhattan, the event draws a crowd from around the globe. It’s not every day we are able to attend a dog-friendly event in a hotel ballroom in NYC for $40. We saw friends from Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, Canada, Maryland, Louisiana . . . This is THE event on the dog fashion scene. Ada Nieves is one of the pioneers in doggy fashion and I bet she is proud to see where it has gone!
A benefit for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals
We wanted to hang out at the Frenchie’s Kitchen table all night! YUM!! Mom does not like crowds (BOL – we live in NYC) and it was way too crowded (and hot) for us. But we had to walk the runway to show some new designs.
A large part of the event was a designer runway show with a themed contest and “designer of the year” award. There were very strict rules: only certain designers could enter, the theme “crown jewels” would be judged, and NO props (strollers, carts, etc.) were allowed on stage. Sadly, the rules were not followed. We felt really bad for our designer and fashionista friends who followed the rules and did not win. We love Bella Mia, a fellow therapy dog, and she looked beautiful wearing a multi-layered gown by designer Anthony Rubio. But rules are rules . . . Really a shame because many people made gorgeous “crown jewel” outfits and they were overlooked. Hopefully this is a learning experience for the organizers. Congrats to Anthony Rubio who is the new designer of the year! And congrats to the New York Pet Fashion Show!
the pup diary 