Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I Was a Hit at the World of Pets Expo!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - my mom and I were so tired from our adventures on Sunday! We went to the World of Pets Expo at the Maryland State Fair Grounds in Timonium. Tails of the Tundra Siberian Husky Rescue had a booth there. We had some foster dogs there, and we also were handing out flyers on the reality of what it's like to own a Siberian Husky, and educating people about the breed. My mommy spent 5 minutes explaining to a teenage boy that we were dogs, not wolves. She also spent lots of time telling people that just because I am big does not mean that I want to eat or hurt small dogs or cats. One silly lady walked right up to me holding two sleeping ferrets. I jumped up and put my front paws on her, but all I did was sniff the ferrets. They are smelly! The lady asked mom "Is he okay?" and mom said "I have no idea. He's never been around ferrets." Mom said the lady should have asked that first, if only for her ferrets' safety! Another man walked by holding a cat in his arms - the cat had no collar or harness or leash, and he walked right up to our table with it. He couldn't believe it when I just looked at the cat. Mom said it was a dumb thing to do - he had no way of knowing that I am good with cats.

Of course I had to stand in front of the booth most of the time and greet my public -I said "hello" and "I love you" for sooooooo many different people! They were all very impressed. Lots of them went to get their friends and came back to hear me talk again! One group of kids asked my mom if they could have their picture taken with me. Mom said sure, and I sat down and smiled pretty while one kid knelt on each side of me. Ah, my adoring public!

This one lady in the booth behind ours was apparently a dog trainer (or so she said) and was handing out pamphlets that said "Train Your Dog Not to Bark!" She came to the booth when mommy was about to take me out to go potty and said "Your dogs are barking at me and I can't hear the people who are trying to talk to me." Mom said "Honestly, I haven't heard any of our dogs bark - they very rarely bark, they usually just talk." The lady said "No, they are definetely barking at me and I can't hear." At that point mom thought the lady was making things up, because our neighboring booths didn't seem to have a problem with us. Mom said "I'm sorry, but our dogs aren't even facing your booth - they are all facing the front of the booth because they want to see all of the people." The lady said "Well, if they were trained you could get them to be quiet." Mom said "They are trained, but Huskies are a vocal breed - the talking is a breed characteristic." The lady said "You're making excuses for these dogs." Mom said "No, we know what the breed characteristics are and we accept that. We're not going to force them to stop doing something that comes naturally to them." The lady tried to hand mom a pamphlet, but mom said "Excuse me, I have to take him out." The lady said "So do I." which didn't make any sense, but oh well...later the lady was huffing and puffing and complaining when my fans asked me to talk. If she thinks she can train Huskies to be quiet, maybe she has a magic formula that will teach us to stop shedding too!

Other than that the World of Pets Expo was a lot of fun. Lots of people asked questions about Siberian Huskies and many people expressed an interest in adopting and volunteering. Well, I have to get ready to go to day care, talk to you all later!

4 comments:

  1. Well, if she did have a magic formula that teaches dogd to stop shedding, she wold be rich!! And everyone would want some! My mom gave up on trying to keep the car clean, but I do have to stay in the back now. And I don't like to be brushed, and that's that!

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  2. Sounds like fun. Tell your moms to stick to her guns. You can train dogs, sure, but you can transform them into something they're not.

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  3. Indy, I'm sorry your mom got harrassed. My mom says that was a Stage Two person and just ignore them. That lady will either move on to Stage 3 or never learn, and either way there's nothing you can do about it.

    I asked her to write about her crazy theory in my blog, if you want you can read it.

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  4. Hey Indy,

    Sounds like you were a great ambassador at the Expo. And you are a great one online.

    I think somedog/one needs to train the trainin' lady who sat behind you at the Expo. NO TREATS FOR HER!

    Woof!

    Freda

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