And the Winner Is…..

by Amy Fernandez

Dog people pride themselves in their fortitude. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail often complicate trips, but rarely stop them. Westminster’s Midtown Manhattan location and February date traditionally makes it one of the year’s biggest travel challenges.

Last week’s snow definitely tested hardcore exhibitors. I have heard countless tales of stranded exhibitors and improvising travel plans. Like I said, dog people never cease to impress me with their sheer determination. But this story may qualify the winner.

It involves a group of local Dachshund exhibitors. A couple of them live on Long Island, one came up from Atlanta, another from Vancouver. Pre Westminster Dachshund specialties were scheduled at the Meadowlands, the Pennsylvania, and DALI, on the island. This gives you a general idea of their plans.

Many exhibitors scrambled to revise travel plans when New York area airports started canceling flights Wednesday. One member of their group was rerouted from LGA to Newark on Thursday afternoon. This may not look like much on the map, but trust me, it’s never good news.  But these are dog people, they went to fetch her. Thanks to a combination of weather related panic and typical heavy traffic along this route….round trip from LI to Newark took TEN hours.

Ok, that’s bad, but these are diehard dog people. Although Friday’s weather predictions were ominous,  it seemed like they could get out of NJ and back to Suffolk County before it got too bad. They were probably right…but there was no early star because they agreed to give the judge a ride. When it finally hit late afternoon, it came in with a vengeance- just after our Dachshund group finally got on the road.

Forecasters never accurately predicted this storm’s path. It dumped record snowfalls on Mass and Conn, before sweeping across Long Island Sound. They drove right into it.  Within an hour, it was about a foot deep and motorists were calling a truce all over the LIE. Luckily, they had four wheel drive and a driver with plenty of experience in deep snow. But it was still coming down. Finally, they got off the expressway. That was pure luck. At the next exit they would have encountered 60 stalled, buried cars that made headlines around the world last Saturday. Instead, they took the back roads. By then, they had been on the road for four hours and were about half a mile from home.

They made it within a couple blocks from home before they had to hike it. Dachshunds and hip deep snow don’t make for a pleasant hike. And the main player in this venture is 80 years old. That hike put her into a state of collapse. Calling 911 was obviously not an option.

Against all odds, everyone got up the hill and made it home. They skipped DALI the next day. Even the show chairman never made it to the show that day.  Much of LI remains buried and LIE wasn’t cleared until today. But this group was on their game for the Sunday specialty at the Hotel Pennsylvania,  and their dogs were benched today.

In my book, they deserve BIS.

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Posted by Amyfernandez on Feb 12 2013. Filed under Current Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.