A concierge, a Jacuzzi, and a nice massage: Westminster’s dog stars get pampered
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Our colleague, T.J. Simers, is new to the Westminster scene, but certainly not new to the Wide World of Sports. He’s in New York to report on America’s most prestigious dog show (and, naturally, if you’re familiar with T.J. Simers, to insert his own unique brand of snark into the proceedings).
In his first dispatch from the Garden, Simers takes us on a grand tour of the luxury accommodations for the stars of the dog show world (and yes, there are both a doggie masseuse and a doggie Jacuzzi). Dogs like Lincoln, a Brussels griffon who’s a front-runner from the Toy group, can expect nothing less than decadence at the Hotel Pennsylvania, where they even have their own concierge:
There are 1,000 dogs staying in the Pennsylvania, and while I wonder who is checking into these rooms next week, there’s no containing the excitement of Jerry Grymek, who is wearing a name tag that identifies him as hotel ‘doggie concierge.’ ‘We welcome you with open paws, ha, ha,’ Jerry says, obviously wanting to be a doggie concierge ever since he was a little pup. ‘Oh, let me show you our doggie spaw -- ha, ha,’ he says, ‘where everyone is considered a VIP, ha, ha, very important pooch.’ There isn’t a blade of grass or a tree within miles of here, ‘but we have a loo downstairs for our guests with separate his and her areas because everyone gets their privacy,’ says the concierge. Just outside the loo, there’s also a ‘tip jar for Pepe la Pue,’ and while not spelled correctly, I think I know who came up with that idea. Ha, ha.
Stay tuned for more T.J. Simers wit and wisdom as the show gets rolling.
--Lindsay Barnett
Video: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times