I am gonna admit it right up front. I am gonna rant and rave! I am gonna think cuss words and maybe even write one or two. Flip out? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Here’s the story …

     If you are one of my loyal readers, you know that Bonnie, my DDE (Demo Dog Excellent) and I travel the east coast doing promotions for By Nature Pet Foods, the company we work for. We do dog shows and agricultural fairs, carnivals, community events and fund raisers. This last weekend, we did a pet expo - The Long Island Pet Expo, to be exact. Held as Hofstra University, this was billed as an event for “pet lovers of all ages” and, along with educational programs of all kinds (spay/neuter information, dog training, emergency first aid, and evacuation planning, among others), showcased some of the biggest rescue groups in the area - North Shore Animal League, Long Island Golden Retriever Rescue, Long Island Labrador Retriever Rescue, Nassau County SPCA, Suffolk County SPCA, Pets With Disabilities - even petfinder.com (where we found Bonnie!) had a booth!

     So now you are thinking “OK. That all sounds great! Why is she so pissed off ?” Well, the program for the event promised “great holiday shopping.” Who knew that meant that, right there, amidst all the rescue groups and pet products would be puppy millers hawking designer dogs for $250.00, terriers of questionable parentage, and Maltese that weighed 20 pounds? Like, huh?

     The rescue groups were beside themselves. As is common at these type of events, they were walking their adoptable dogs around the venue wearing their “I’m available for adoption” vests and handing out information on spay/neuter and the pet over-population problem. Unlike any other show I have ever done, they were upstaged by poorly bred, ridiculously promoted, mutts who some idiot gave cutesy names to. It was tragic.

     Perhaps even more tragic was the number of people who walked out of the Long Island Pet Expo with one of these puppies not knowing anything about them except what the over-zealous salespeople told them. I can hardly believe that each and every one of these buyers woke up this past weekend and said that they were gonna buy a dog that day. I can hardly believe that, given a choice between saving a life and paying some one for a ill bred, poorly conformed, supposed “going to be a new breed someday”, that people chose the latter. Like, WTF?

     I have already notified my boss that I will not attend any show promoted by EQXPO, LLC. As well attended and as busy as it was, I can not be a part of anything that supports the commercial breeding of puppies and creates a situation where a living thing becomes an impulse purchase.