The Gossip Column: December 13, 2024
The last column of 2024. Looking back over the past year, two very different things stand out. True, there was sadness with the reporting of the passings of friends and acquaintances, but as life goes on we were happy to report birth announcements. Many of those we were congratulating were the grandparents as our community ages. There were a couple of engagements and marriages reported; we overlooked the divorces and the one-night stands. There were the travel plans of some, whether for pleasure or foreign judging assignments. There was news about the AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB, new rules and policies that would affect us, reports of other kennel clubs around the world, and some items about foreign governmental rules concerning dog ownership. All and all, it was quite a year, and unique, as most years are.
But the two items that are the most long-lasting and stabilizing are the homecoming of the WESTMINSTER KENNEL CLUB, which is returning to its February date and ancestral home of MADISON SQUARE GARDEN after several years of moving: first to the grand Westchester estate on the Hudson River, LYNDHURST, and then to the U.S. TENNIS CENTER in Queens, a borough of New York City that is closer to but not quite Manhattan. Both these temporary venues had their positives, but it just wasn’t the same — something was missing. The Westminster club members worked very long and hard to bring it back. Returning it to its old time and place brings us back to the “Old Days,” finally putting to an end the turmoil of the pandemic of 2020. The other news item that stayed with me was the delegates voting down the proposal to end the term limits of the directors of the AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB. This might seem to be a trivial vote, but its importance can’t be understated. I congratulate the delegates for standing up to powers-that-be and rejecting the board said to stay on forever.
Celebrating Birthdays … MARY DUKES, ANDY LINTON, TERRY HUNDT, HANS KABEL, CHARLENE MASCUCH, HELEN INGHER, NANCY SELF, LINDA GEORGE, CARLOS PUIG, TOM BRADLEY, HEIDI COLE, BOB FUTH, COLE GABEL, DAVID HARPER, ADRIAN GHIONE, ROBERT CHAFFIN and the person who made a lot of travel arrangements to get to Orlando, PAULA SPECTOR. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support of DOG NEWS and to wish you the very best holiday season with your family and friends and the very best for a happy, healthy and winning New Year.