Pet Expo 2013

[furtech]

Complete Flickr Set Here

This last weekend I was at this year's 2013 Pet Expo in Orange County. I look forward to this event every year: I love running the dogs and helping them to find forever homes. There's a lot of validation when you see a dog with issues that make them not-for-everybody be adopted by someone who is absolutely perfect for that particular dog. We had some great dogs out this year and four of them went home with neat people. Considering how few adoptions seemed to be happening this year, I was really happy.

For the most part the majority of rescues were pit-mixes and chihuahua/yap-mixes. I was surprised by both the large numbers of these dogs here and that there was such a plethora of them.

I got to see a Silken Windhound for the first time in-person. Very Saluki-like in demeanor. Also saw a Japanese Ken for the first time (I think). They are bigger than Shibas and smaller than Akitas and much more out-going than either of those sister-breeds.

By Sunday I was exhausted and Apache (who was at the breed booth) was even more done.

Comments

[vulpesrex.livejournal.com]

You make mention that the weekend attendance - especially on Friday - was poor; I would attribute this to the situation in Boston, which came to a climax on Friday. April 19th is my birthday - and for the last 15 years or so, I've come to dread it because something violent always seems to happen somewhere, on or immediately around that date (Waco, Oklahoma City, and now this).

It would be interesting to see how attendance at Disneyland may heve been affected for the week, just for comparison. Disneyland would be considered a prime "terrorist" target...and something which people might decide to avoid in an unstable situation.

Regarding the dogs - the picture of the Mal pulled at my heartstrings. I miss White Fang. GSDs are also good (at least, the ones not bred for that sloped-back stance, which seems to be the current breed standard). I'm not sure if I would have enough energy for a Border Collie, however.