It’s that time again… dog show!

Well, every year, I head out of town for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog show, on which I am a producer. It’s held at the Long Beach Convention Center, and if you are in the area, I highly recommend going. There are exciting dog-related events during the day and exciting blue-carpet dog show at night (with a few hours’ gap in between; be prepared).

This year, I am also going into this exercising my optimism. Every year, when I go to this show, something seems to go awry elsewhere in the universe as it relates to my life. Three years ago, Winston actually ran away from the husb’s office and through a crowded parking lot by a freeway (I only found this out when somebody accidentally mentioned it in front of me weeks later). Two years ago, I came home from the show to find Winston at the vet, where he would stay for another four days, with gastric distress and maybe (we thought) headed for surgery (he was fine).

And last year, I got to the convention center, set up my computer to get ready for my meeting, and found out that one of my family members had been in a very serious car accident.

So this year, we are going with the idea that everything will be fine. This is aided somewhat by the fact that Winston is booked overnight at his daycare for the weekend.

What goes on at the dog show? For me, it’s mostly about gathering information and making sure the talent scripts are where they need to be before everybody goes on camera. There’s not as much pressure, because this show isn’t live anymore… back when we did it live, my heart literally pounded in my chest for about 48 straight hours as we tried to gather all the information we needed before going on the air. And being on the air live! It’s like flying. It’s crazy.

If you do go to the night-time part of it, look for me–I’ll be the lady next to the host table ringside. That makes me sound important, but it’s really not like that. It’s just the most convenient place for me to sit and have access to the hosts, since we talk about the various dogs during the show and record that so I can refer to it later and hear all of their fascinating insights. I have a feeling that there are a lot of people in the arena who actually assume I am the grand poobah of the whole thing, because I have a headset, a TV screen, and a table all by myself. But the real grand poobah (ha, I typed “poobag”, totally different) is in his TV truck, and I am actually just a mid-level poobah.

But it’s a great time, and I highly recommend either coming to the show, watching in when it airs on Animal Planet (February 6, the night before the Super Bowl), or BOTH!

If you do end up going, tweet me @katiealender !

Otherwise, have a great weekend!

1 comment December 10th, 2009