The staff at the hotel were the best I've found in all my travels! The FOOD though...my goodness...Windows was top notch. Especially, the Mushroom soup!!! The main hostess was so accomodating. I loved her. She let Edgar, Brennen and I sit outside the actual retsaurant but order their food anytime we wanted. She personally served us when the waiters were busy. She is really special and karma will come back to her and treat her well. I've never been at such a mainstream hotel and had the food be so good. Maybe some hated it, but we were sure happy! They even pulled a banana out of no where so Brennen could have his first taste. I would certainly go back to that hotel.

I loved the park to take the dogs for nice long walks. The hospitality and seminars were great! Seeing friends and meeting new ones! Sharon and Calvin did and AWESOME job!

I wish more people would have stuck around for the rescue parade. Cindy put her heart into it. It was awesome! Cindy thanks for all you do!

It was a great week! Congrats to all the winners! Big THANKS to all that made it possible!

Liz Pearson
Broadway Bulldogs

i have to say the dogs and owners for the most part did a great job. I think past years people were very hard on the ground and not picking up poop that people learned.


My fav out of the ring was the Bulldog Club of Greater Seattle hospitality night. We rented the president suite. had wine, beer, cheese, salmon, pizza, shrimp and much much more. I think the chocolate fondu foutain was a hit with rice crispy treats, cream puffs, pretzels, strawberries and more to dip. It was called better then sex.


We had non club members come to help set up and clean up, Thank you all for helping us pull off this fun event. I hope all who attended had a great time.


I also enjoyed the seminar I breed my bitch and it didnt take, it was a nice seminar and very educational.

Vicky,
Bosco, Bella, Breve' & Holly

http://www.rubarbsoap.com/
PHOTOS ARE PROPERTY OF LANGAGER BULLDOGS, YOU MUST HAVE WRITTEN PERMISSION FOR ANY USE OF THESE PHOTOS FROM LANGAGERBULLDOG.

i just loved it, all the staff was great. I wondered why you all sat in the same spot daily, thought you just liked the corner.



Vicky,
Bosco, Bella, Breve' & Holly

http://www.rubarbsoap.com/
PHOTOS ARE PROPERTY OF LANGAGER BULLDOGS, YOU MUST HAVE WRITTEN PERMISSION FOR ANY USE OF THESE PHOTOS FROM LANGAGERBULLDOG.

The park was so nice. I hope allot of exhibitors took advantage of having it so close. I saw a few people walking bullies on the path. Man, the weather was perfect for it.

You did an outstanding job judging sweepstakes....

Kelly
Whitehills Bulldogs
http://www.geocities.com/kellywhitehills

So, I don't have anything to compare it to, however, here's what stood out to me:

Owners/handlers being responsible. Every single person I encountered was in control of their dog/bitch and aware of those around them.

People cleaning up after their bullies. The interior and exterior of the hotel was clean.

The food was great. The steak salad was awesome! The hotel and staff were wonderful.

Everyone worked so hard and it really showed.

Brian and I had a great time; Nutmeg had fun too! We definitely have 'the bug' and can't wait till next year! Congrats to all the winners out there.

-Renee W.

It was a really great hotel, and the staff would say hi all the time. Our room was great and our bed was really comfy!
I liked the idea of the potty pens. At night I'd let my dogs race around with their squeeker to burn off some energy. They were always clean and kept up.
The seminar on breeding was great, although my little one started squakin' so I had to leave, but hubby filled me in!
It was great to finally meet some beautiful dogs and get to know their owners. For the most part, introductions were kind and friendly. We got some good advice.
As a person who used to help run a club, I know first hand how hard it is, and Calvin and Sharon did a great job. WELL DONE!
It was my focus to make Calvin laugh by the end of the week, and I succeeded!
Classy event...can't wait for the next one!

the judges seminar and the breed standard were at the same time, i would have loved to attend both but it was not possible.

2 having more signs as to what was going on. Things were so busy and people missed things because they forgot about them or were running to meetings, walk dogs who had been cooped up for hours or meet with non dog people for other types of activities.

(about would be nice for future nationals)

The counselors meeting took 3 sessions, THANK GOD IM NOT ONE, i know a few who will not do this again. The counselors missed out on so many activities about 12hrs or more.


All and all it was wonderful, people were great and no big problems come to mind.

Vicky,
Bosco, Bella, Breve' & Holly

http://www.rubarbsoap.com/
PHOTOS ARE PROPERTY OF LANGAGER BULLDOGS, YOU MUST HAVE WRITTEN PERMISSION FOR ANY USE OF THESE PHOTOS FROM LANGAGERBULLDOG.

ask for it, they will make it, I promise you will love it!
e

The staff was very friendly and actually spoke English...a big plus when asking for more towels. I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite people and meeting new ones...loved seeing dogs I had only seen in pictures..wonderful all of them! Probably the only regret would be not making it up to the Drag Queen beauty contest (they had some awesome dresses and looked better in makeup than I did)the ones we saw in the lobby, and not exploring the Centennial trail out of the park..it is an awesome trail..beats our River trail anyday. Just not enough time to do everything. Sharon and Calvin along with all of the BCGS members did an awesome job..KUDOS to ALL!!!

for our monthly manager meetings when I lived in easten WA. I used to take Norbert with me and they always gave me the rooms on the end with the sliders to the lawn. There is a vet clinic a couple of blocks away that would take him in for day care.

I think the hotel staff was great and friendly.

I did see poop in a hallway on the carpet that no one picked up. The hotel staff was there and made sure I steered around it and didn't step in it. I guess someone didn't have their poop bags with them. I do feel the exhibitors did much better with the poop pickup. The idea of raffle tickets "Taking Care of Business" was a great idea. When I was in CA for the 03 nationals clean up was horrible. I couldn't believe how bad it was. You couldn't even wa;lk without stepping in s@%!. Maybe people are realizing that we will end up in fairgrounds if they don't clean up after their dogs.

I felt the quality of dogs was better then in 03 and I could actually see the dogs. The lighting was great in the show room. I was really disappointed at the previous nationals I went to because it was so dark.

I wish I had been there all week.

Sharon and Calvin did an awesome job! Kudos for all to leave the past behind and work together to put on a great nationals.

I had the rueben but your way sounds much better..lol Now I've got to try it with turkey..thanks!

I guess the point I was trying to make was if we made it more upbeat and fun/happy that there wouldn't be so many tears....but then, we'd probably have tears of joy too!! Just can't win - bulldogs are an emotion subject for many of us! LOL

food- AWESOME!.. my choice, the rueben sammich with turkey breast instead of corned beef and lotsa thousand Island dressing.. YUM! (now I'm hungry!!)
Hotel-AWESOME! location, location, location. The staff was wonderful. We loved the park, the dogs really loved it, the walks were fabulous.
I was very impressed with how clean the Bulldoggers were at this one. In the past, I have been highly embarrassed at some shows to even be associated with some of the pigs I have encountered.. not this time. Excellent job!
Show committee was great, the show ran smoothly.
Hospitality was wonderful.
Of course the bulldogs and their owners.. top notch! I love making new friends!
I have to give it a solid "A".
e

On what everyone has said!! I cant think of one thing I disliked. The Park and trail were amazing and we totally took advantage of that each day.
Great job Div V.

Wild West Bulldogs

Pictures property of Wild West Bulldogs.

I think I've only missed one, maybe two, nationals since 1998 and this one ranks right up there with the best of the best. It was extremely well organized. Sharon and Calvin each did the work of 10 people, all in a cool, calm, non-hasseled manner. They bent over backwards to make sure everyone had a great time. I never saw either one of them with their feathers ruffled or putting on an air of importance. They were spectacular.

Ditto on the food (yum!) and hotel comments. Bulldoggers did a fantastic job with cleanliness. I always meet such nice people at Nationals and this year was no exception.

If there was anything that needed to be improved upon, it certainly was overshadowed and out-ranked by the good. Nice job Division V!

Elaine

Being it was my first Nationals, I thought it was very well organized and the show site (Red Lion Hotel) was amazing. The hotel was located right next to downtown Spokane and Centennial trail which was perfect. One of my favorite parts during Nationals week was meeting and talking to different bulldoggers around the country! Being fond of certain UK lines, I had the pleasure of picking the brain of Vicky Collins from Kezia bulldogs about UK dogs and bulldogs in general. Man that was fun...

The entire show committee did an awesome job!

oh, yes, all of you guys deserve all the applause and acclaim you can get, and so do all these precious babies.
Like I said, I cry so hard I can't stand it, and there is no way to avoid that.
e

well coming from someone who walked her dog in the 2006 parade and will be back for the 2008 parade as well - maybe we should focus on happy things like the dog getting a wonderful forever home, it's favorite things, etc..

and not what a bad past it had....maybe we can do a small rescue booklet with each dogs story for people to read, but not announce it while the dogs are in the ring - I know it's heartbreaking and I cried the whole time I was in the ring with Dixie, it's very emotional but I feel she deserves the recogonition so I do it for her!!

I did miss it this year and was sorry I did. I was otherwise occupied.
I will say however.. they always make me cry.. and cry hard.
Crying gives me really bad headaches so I try to avoid crying as much as possible.
This could be a reason why more people don't come.
e

I'm so glad to read these reviews .... after the negative expectations of some naysayers in weeks past, and the horror stories I've read in the Bulldogger issues immediately following a Nationals.

I know the Division V folks put alot of elbow grease into a show that would be awesome and memorable. Congratulations to all of them for a job well done!



Still wish more had stayed for the Rescue Parade though ....
if seeing those special pooches isn't enough to hold a crowd, maybe next year's hosting Division can come up with extra incentive .... gift certificates, gift baskets, .... "must be present to win".

Pardon me while I brain-storm out loud.

http://www.rusticrail.smugmug.com/
http://www.pbase.com/bullpooches