OC Pet Expo 2010

April 19, 2010 by Jamie

This past weekend Bryan and I attended the OC Pet Expo at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. This was the first year we have gone to this event since this is the first year we are officially dog owners. About ten years ago my dad and I went to a similar event at the LA County fairgrounds and we left the event with tons of free stuff for our cats. We didn’t pay for a thing except admission, I thought this event would be similar. The admission to the expo is $12 per person, this is insanely high but I was willing to pay it as long as I got a plethora of free samples. Well the free samples were few and far between, we ended up paying for a majority of the “free samples” that were being offered. We started out in the dog buildings and were almost instantly drawn into the Alaskan Malamute rescue booth. Since we have our own Malamute mutt at home I had to drop a donation to them because Mals are just so darn cute. Along with the many doggy related vendors that lined the building each breed of dog had their own booth. Breeds such as Dachshunds, Bulldogs, Mastiffs, German Shepherds, Newfoundlands and breeds that I had never even heard of were on display. One breed that Bryan and I particularly fell in love with was the Anatolian Shepherd. The dogs that they had at their booth were very large and were the color of sheep, they had the sweetest faces. This is definitely a breed I will look into if we ever adopt again.

As we weaved our way through the two buildings we collected numerous samples of dog food and dog treats. Our friends Mark and Sarah were also at the event and we found them at the Rattlesnake Avoidance demo booth. Sarah was holding a dog that could only be described as a Rottweiler with the body of a Corgi. His owner’s called him a Runtweiler, we had to get a photo since I had never seen anything like him. We ended up having to make a trip back to the car because all the “free samples” we were getting was weighing us down. We stopped for a moment to see the Splash Dogs demo in which dogs are judged on their splashes into a large pool. Some of the dogs absolutely loved the water and jumped gleefully in. One dog in particular that we watched hesitated and seemed to be scared of the water, I’m sure he didn’t get high points but watching him proceed with caution before jumping in was pretty hilarious. We then made our way over to the Equine arena where they were having a Friesien demonstration. Friesiens are by far my favorite breed of horse and if you see my photos below you can see why, they are stunningly beautiful. By far the most expensive thing at the Pet Expo was the food, and unfortunately we got hungry while we were there. Our taco salads and drinks cost us nearly $30. Note to self: bring lunch and leave it in the car if we come back next year. To end our day at the Pet Expo we headed over to the Adoption building which was full of numerous rescue and adoption organizations. We found the booth for Coastal German Shepherd Rescue, which is where we got our two dogs from so of course I had to buy something from them. I ended up getting a magnet that says “I love my white German Shepherd” and a mug, cheesy I know but I definitely support their cause.

Check out a few photos from the Pet Expo below: