THE annual Westminster Dog Show doesn’t begin until Monday, but at the venerable Hotel Pennsylvania, it’s already Dog Day Afternoon . . . night and morning.
Just a 50-foot walk (or carry) across Seventh Avenue from the prestigious show’s Madison Square Garden home, some 1,000 four-legged guests are checking in this weekend for their stay in New York.
With all those dogs, you’d think there’d be much a-do about Seventh Avenue. But sidewalks surrounding the Pennsylvania are clean.
That’s because they’ve created a doggie bathroom in the basement of the hotel, explains Sue Cassel, here from Shreveport, La., to compete with her long-haired dachshund, Midnight Special.
“They’ve got a whole room, with a side for boys and one for girls,” she says.
And it’s not for modesty’s sake. “If the girls are in season, the boys smell them and they’ll be ruined for a few days,” says Vicki Seiler, national events leader for Iams, who’s at the Pennsylvania to give out free food (though dogs, not people, are allowed to bring in their own food, says hotel general manager James Flynn).
The doggie bathroom – the hotel prefers the term “Comfort Station” – once held a grand restaurant called the Globetrotter, and still boasts a large gold chandelier.
The room, which also doubles as an indoor dog run, admittedly smells fresh, aided by a constant flow of air from the vents – and a 32-ounce spray bottle of Zep Odor Control (commercial strength) on the shelf.
The person who put the bathroom and exercise area in should be given an award, gushed California competitor Gretchen Neuwirth, here with her German wirehaired pointer, G.I. Joe.
“Most dogs here are used to grass, and there’s not anywhere to go here,” added the Louisiana dachshund owner Cassel.
By most accounts at the hotel, the dogs are good visitors.
“They’re some of our best guests,” says Steve Leonard, the Pennsylvania’s director of sales and marketing. “They’re not like rock stars. People think with a thousand dogs there’d be chaos, but we never get a complaint.”
“They’re OK tippers,” offered a bellman named Paul.
Still, not everyone is thrilled with the canine invasion. “Last night they were noisy,” complained Tasha Duraidi, a hotel guest from London.
“And there are so many of them in the lift [elevator]. We’re not used to it.”
And her cat back home, Bacardi, probably wouldn’t appreciate the pups, either.
Room rates for dogs run about $20 more than for just people. For that, they get extra towels.
After the Best in Show is finally named and they let the dogs out, says Flynn, “All the dog rooms get a deep cleaning; a heavy vacuum and shampoo.”
Whatever hitches the Pennsylvania might encounter due to the unusual guests, marketing man Leonard figures, “It could be worse. We could be in the Midwest at a rattlesnake convention.”
INSIDE POOP
BARE bones on the dog show:
Number of dogs in competition: 2,603
Length of all leashes: 2 miles
Time spent in judging ring: 2 minutes
The Michael Jordan of Westminster: Smooth fox terrier, Ch. Warren Remedy, did the shows only three-peat in 1907, 08 and 09.
Guest appearances: A rat fell from the ceiling into the terrier ring once some dogs tried to kill it, others ignored it.