After a busy morning at the Mutt March, we got in the car and went to the Phoenix Pet Expo. We met some of our furiends there and walked around the packed event.

It was hard to move without almost bumping into people-this definitely felt like the busiest Phoenix Pet Expo we’ve attended to date. The Expo was held at West World in Scottsdale Arizona across from the big dome. We saw quite an array of characters-from gorgeous wolfdogs to a pink poodle!

What was even more awesome was that we saw this dog:

The story with this pup is that we saw the dog in the Maricopa Animal Shelter a few months back when walking the rows and seeing all the dogs. We were ecstatic to see that this dog found a forever home and told the new owners so in addition to extending our congratulations for the new addition.

The dog breeds ranged in size and color-from a towering Great Danes, Shepherds, and Mals to Chihuahuas, Shih Tzus, and Shiba Inus! There were even a couple of piglets! The baby pigs squealed and squeaked in protest when many dogs came near, and although Bella was worried about them, she was assured that they were alright.

We explored a few of the booths and then walked around a bit with our friends before checking out some of the contests. We entered the costume contest and the talent contest. For the costume contest, Bella was ‘A Dog’s Favorite Treat’ (as the commentator dubbed her)-Bacon!

We were one of the finalists, but are happy that the more creative western costumes and dance-themed costumes won the contest. We do have some creative costume ideas for the future that we will be working on putting together. We got third place in the talent/trick contest behind an adorable little dog named Bandit and Just Jesse the Jack. Bella performed all of her requested tricks wonderfully even though the grassy field was an essential ‘p-mail’ semi hot spot.

There was also an Agility field where the Phoenix Agility Club Jumping Chollas allowed people to run the course and introduce their dogs to the canine team sport of Agility. We had a ton of fun running the course-we definitely did not realize there was an order or do it in order, but still enjoyed going through the obstacles!

At the end of the event we went to the grassy field and asked if we could play a bit of Frisbee on the field. The Disc Dog Club said yes and even gave us some real frisbees to play with-not the plastic promo ones which sometimes splinter and break within a few catches. A couple of kids asked if they could play with Bella, and they came on the field to try their hand at throwing the toys. They loved playing fetch with the ball and trying to throw her Frisbee for her to catch (sometimes successfully, sometimes not). Bella happily obliged and entertained the kids until they decided to run around some more and check out some more animals.
After a busy and fun filled day, Bella was happily exhausted.