 John Taylor "> | | | Good morning, it’s Saturday, Feb. 14 — happy Valentine’s Day to all who celebrate. If this news has you panicked, check this list or maybe head to the grocery store. Best of luck out there. Answering your questions We get a lot of questions from readers (keep them coming!), and some of them are simply unanswerable. But that’s certainly not the case with this one: - Where do dogs go potty at the Westminster dog show?
I hit forward on this email so fast, sending it to my friend and colleague Maura Judkis, who has covered this event four times for The Post. Her reply: “Thank you for giving me the chance to talk about one of my favorite topics: the wild logistics of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.” The show takes place at two venues in New York City: Javits Center during the day, and Madison Square Garden at night, during prime time. And, as Maura points out: There are 2,500 dogs at this show over two days, and they all have to pee somewhere. | | | | I’ll turn it over to Maura from here: The dogs compete against others of their own breed during the preliminaries at the Javits Center, and there is a potty area in the back, in the loading dock. There’s no grass there, obviously, so some very dedicated workers fill a pen with wood shavings and sawdust for the dogs to do their business. I don’t get to go backstage at Madison Square Garden, but I’m told there is a similar setup there with wood shavings. Many of the competitors stay at the New Yorker Hotel a block away. If you walk by it on any day of the competition, you’ll see extremely fancy dogs in elaborate puffy winter coats doing their business on the curb of Eighth Avenue. However: Never in the four years I have covered Westminster have I ever seen a dog have an accident inside the show area. They’re very well trained! What else to know I’m fighting every urge to make a “scoop” joke. But thanks to Maura for breaking down this important topic for us. I’m happy to keep things light this weekend. And thank you for the questions — please keep them coming: If there’s something you want to know about the stories you’ve seen in The 7, send them here. We’ll find the right person to answer them for another weekend edition of The 7. Keep reading Each weekend, The 7 team shares our favorite recent Post stories with you.  | Hannah Jewell | I have been loving every word written by Robert Samuels at the Milan Cortina Olympics. His analysis of Wednesday’s ice dance final explains the beauty of the sport — and the messy drama of some of its athletes.  | Izin Akhabau | After more than a decade trying different treatments to combat shoulder pain, Asha Dore found a surprising remedy.  | Jamie Ross | I have a new hero this week. Virginia teenager Hugh Pinneo was alerted to a dog struggling to stay afloat in an icy lake, so he grabbed a kayak and went on a rescue mission — watch here.  | John Taylor | I clicked on this headline thinking it might actually be good news. Guess what? It wasn’t. | 
