Beating the Heat at Seatace Pet Expo by Madison McQueen.
One step inside the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup this past weekend and you’re suddenly hit with the need to pet and take pictures of every cute animal in your vicinity, which happens to be all of them.
Glancing outside the glass door you just entered, you can see a long pool with a platform for doggie divers leading up to it and bleachers off to the side filled with an excited crowd taking pictures. On your left is a demonstration area where dogs chase after balls while jumping over obstacles and hitting a worn backboard that might resemble one Usain Bolt may have used to start a race.
To the right extends the rest of the convention center, booths are in full swing and range from miscellaneous toys and blankets to open discussions about caring for animals with cancer.
One of those discussion booths was manned by the founder of WhyDoesMyDog.com, Aly Delacoeur. The website launched last year with the intention of answering hard-to-ask questions concerning dogs suffering from disease. After eight years of dog training Delacoeur said most trainers did not receive formal education for their craft.
Which is why the videos delving into these questions rely heavily on advice from medical experts from institutions such as University of Washington and UC Berkley, rather than sticking to the words of dog trainers. Not to mention, the videos are absolutely free.
“ {The site} was created out of this idea that pet owners need good information,” Delacoeur said, “and with so many millennials living in the internet right now – we want to provide good stuff for them.”
Speaking of free services to promote the health of your pet, veterinarian and CEO of “The Doggie Lift” Eric Lui offered free nail trims for pups that were typically too difficult for owners to handle on their own. The lift works as a traditional pulley system that hooks onto the top of a doorway and suspends your pet midair in a harness built for full body support.
Lui said the inspiration for the product came from having to sedate his own dog when trimming and seeing owners come in to his clinic with dogs that had nails so long, they curled into the paw. He said his product has worked wonders at home.
“Most people think it won’t work, they’re very skeptical,” Lui said, “we did a hundred dogs yesterday…today we’ve done about thirty.”
This past weekend marked the third year Lui has demonstrated his product at this expo, although he also remarks he’s also debuted in California, Vegas, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Along with pets and their owners, the expo also welcomed humans that had yet to find their best friends. Three booths featured dogs rescued from high-kill pounds while just as many other booths let people pickup and take pictures with parrots, domestic rats and non-venomous snakes. One such rescue booth, Collar of Hope, had overseen eight adoptions out of the estimated twelve brought in just the two days the expo had opened. This was their first year attending the expo and they plan to be back next year.
Visit http://www.seatacpetcon.com for more information about upcoming events and conventions.
