This year, our 4th Annual East Coast Gathering of Cotons from
around the country and around the world took place on September 21, 2002, a
glorious Saturday, starting at 11 am and ending whenever the last guest left for
a good night's sleep. Actually, this turned out to be around 8 pm. when
Renee Miller and her mom, Paula, led CC Spiliotis-Hill and Laurie Spalding
Russell back
to the Best Western - Rensselaer Inn where they and several others were
staying.
Click on the Green
links to go directly to the page or click on
the links on the left, top or bottom of the pages to view the pictures and
following the story.
With approximately 83 human and 54 canine guests it is difficult to describe
the excitement, the chaos, the glee, the joy, the renewal of friendships old and
the making of friendships new that occurred throughout the day. Guest
List
Our guests came from as far away as California,
Canada, and Puerto Rico, to as close as Ballston Spa, NY.
About 30 families came who had never been to one of our Gatherings before and
we hope they will come again!
Guests were not limited to just one "club"
affiliation and ALL
affiliations, "clubs", and organizations
for Coton de Tulear dogs were represented. Many, many guests were not
members of any organization and were here because they just love their Coton and
wanted to see more representatives of the breed.
The guest list included several breeders although the
majority of the folks were like us, owners of PETS, who love their dogs! Our
local newspaper the Albany Times-Union sent a reporter and photographer to do a
story about the party. It is a great story and was written from the dogs' point
of view. BYOB Meant Bring Your Own Bowl
Due to the generosity of several people we were able
to have a raffle for some Dog, no Door Prizes. We weren't giving away doors but
we did have some stuffed dogs!
Door Prizes
For the first time ever we combined the party with
an unexpected way of raising some funds for UCARE, the non-club affiliated
Rescue organization for Cotons from all family backgrounds. Over $300.00
was raised today. If you are a Coton
de Tulear, UCARE will rescue you. UCARE
Kibble & Bits,
that's what the dogs thought they would be eating but thanks to a special
couple, Karen and Marc Klahr of Scarsdale, NY, both the dogs and the humans had
a special dessert.
Everyone was taking pictures - inside
the house, outside the house, all around
the house - just click on the links to view them all - I want to give a special
thanks to the following people for sending me their pictures - Vicky Loving, Zee
Ashworth, Jane Arrington, Jim Luippold, David Salmon, Jeri McLees, Laurie
Freehafer, and of course, Marvin Honig. As I get more
pictures from more people I will add them and their names here. 
I just received and scanned in some pictures from
Debbie Simonelli and Bonnie Roseman - go to the More
Pictures page to view these latest pictures.
Victoria Petrofsky sent in a selection of pictures
and they can be viewed at the page entitled, Victoria's
Secrets!
Shortly
after the party one of Renee Miller's puppies went to the Rainbow Bridge. For
those of you who might not know what the Rainbow Bridge is, it is the place
where dogs who have died are waiting for their owners to greet them once again,
but this time the dog is no longer suffering the ailments or illnesses it had
while on earth! A special page has been created to celebrate Little
Blessings' Pebbles short but happy life. To see these pictures, please go to the
page entitled Pebbles.
This year I have included a special page with some
favorite links, including links to UCARE, previous parties we have hosted, as
well as breeders of Coton de Tulear dogs. Special
Links
Please enjoy the website and the pictures, check back often for new pictures
will be added as I receive them.
Note: Some of the pictures may take longer to load
than others, so please be patient. I have tried to make them load as fast as
possible for those on a dial-up system.
             
This page was last updated on 01/23/05.
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2002 