Peggy was already there when we got in, so we got Sport moved out to her room first thing. Once everyone
was fed and settled we met her for snacks and drinks in the lounge, which curiously was the only place in
the resort with free wi-fi. Then we started getting calls from Brianne and her mom Ilene who were flying in
together. The plane was late, then later, but they finally got their car and into their room which was on the
opposite side of our building, and they picked up Jolie.
The next morning we headed off to Universal Studios; the hotel had a shuttle, but the return schedule was a
bit late for my comfort, so we drove over in the now empty minivan. As usual for October, it wasn’t crowded
at all, so we went on the Hulk and the Dueling Dragons quite a few times before we had to return to prepare
for the sweepstakes.
Our building was fairly close to the convention center, but not the side where the show ring was, so when
Peggy and I made our first trip over to figure out the lay of the land and drop off our grooming equipment
it was a bit of an adventure; we ended up walking everything up stairs rather than going far enough to find
the ramp. Fortunately we found a shortcut through the convention center from a door near our building the
next day. It was still a LOT of walking; we had two roller bases and had brought two extra folding crates
that we left in the grooming room all weekend, so at least there wasn’t a lot of hauling to go along with the
footwork.
As I mentioned, the convention center was huge, and the Tampa Bay club had booked separate rooms for
everything so nothing had to be torn down and reset during the weekend. The grooming room had plenty of
room for all even on the busiest days, and the show ring was adequate considering the entry, which was low
this year. The BTCA also experimented with a new schedule; Thursday evening was the sweepstakes where
Sport and Phoebe competed, and then most of the specialty judging was on Friday rather than Sunday.
Judging started with the futurity and went through all the regular classes and Winners in each variety. That
way only Winners Dog, Winners Bitch and the Veterans class winners needed to be shown again on Sunday.
Since neither Phoebe nor Sport made it that far, it was convenient for me as an exhibitor since I just left my
two folding crates set up and the two dogs that were “on” for the day used them, the others could stay in
the hotel room. The weekend does lose the momentum of having the specialty all in one day, but it’s less
sitting if you want to watch and it’s nice getting it over early on Sunday for people who have to leave in the
afternoon.
Friday evening, the Tampa club hosted a cocktail party with a cash bar and pre-paid food which was nice, but
Mike thought it was a bit too formal; I think it might have been more casual had it been outside as originally
planned, but rain changed those plans!
One aspect of the schedule that did not change was that Saturday was devoted to Silverwood. The two “big
girls” Marley and Jolie were in the colored bitch class which as usual, drew the highest entry in the show and
this year was judged by Lynn Myall and Claudia Sharp. Going into the show I had thought that Jolie had a
good shot at the top awards in Colored Bitches, but I really wasn’t hoping for too much for Marley. I did think
Mar was in great condition and she had really been showing well, so I was hopeful that she’d be a finalist as
she had been the year before. Both girls made the finals, but there were 7 finalists cut from the 19 bitches
present which meant the judges had only agreed on one bitch in the class. I could not have been more
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