Why ESCP wanted to host the National

Sandia Mountain dominates the Albuquerque skyline

Some of us have gone to many Nationals in other places, and we have benefited from the very hard work of lots of National committees. Our club has never before hosted a National, and we thought that if we wanted to milk the cow, we need to feed it; that is, it’s time for us to give back to all those other clubs who worked hard for our benefit by doing the same for them. Also, we have driven or flown our dogs hundreds and thousands of miles to get to distant Nationals, and we thought it would be nice if, just once, our dogs did not have a long journey to get to show at the National.

You can go to the top of
Sandia Mountain on the tram
or by road.
Views from the top are spectacular.

New Mexico is home to
many ancient Indian pueblos.

As we checked into hotels in Phoenix, we found a Catch-22. Though Phoenix is usually too hot to fly dogs into during our time frame, even in November, the hotels still consider November the start of the winter tourist season, and hotel rates are sky high. The Phoenix club has a few members in New Mexico, and Albuquerque weather is usually very pleasant in November. Plus we were able to get more favorable rates in nice hotels in Albuquerque. A quick check with AKC, and we found that Albuquerque is within a close enough distance to Phoenix that AKC would approve Albuquerque as the host city.


So, we threw our hats into the ring.