From the Editor

Honestly, you're a lot prettier than that illustration would indicate.

On another subject, I want to query you on a story, so here goes:

When the Hotel New Yorker hosts 200-plus dogs for the Westminster Dog Show, it has its paws full. Consider:
-This is not a motel with separate room entrances that would keep Great Danes out of the public spaces,
-Instead, this hotel is an expensively restored Art Deco landmark on one of the most crowded corners in Manhattan,
-Much of the Westminster crowd consists of dogs (and owners and trainers) whose homes are not in high-rise, congested, downtown areas,
-Owners of show dogs expect crackerjack service, even in a hotel that's accommodating more than 200 highly valued canines,
-Good heavens, these dogs are beautiful.

I'd like to write a story about how the hotel staff manages to pull it off--and how the owners, trainers, and canine contestants cope with this stressful weekend in relatively tight lodgings. There would be plenty of anecdotes and quotes, but my story would not be a replay of Best in Show: As a dog owner myself, I'm considerably more sympathetic than that.

I've written for The New York Times, Delta Sky, Diversion (the Hearst leisure magazine for physicians that recently went belly up), custom publications for Wachovia and other companies, and various websites. The subjects I cover are travel, the green movement, and wildlife, a category of life with which my own dog maintains a doggedly adversarial stance. The web page below includes links to some of my stories.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
ED WETSCHLER, Pres.
NY Travel Writers Assn.
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212.477.2283
570.775.4067