Pet Expo 2011

Paul T Barry

I thought the event was FANTASTIC !

The event IMO is about promoting responsible Pet Ownership, not on how many bags of freebies you can cart off with you.

I costs € 10.00 for a cinema ticket these days, and you get 2 hours, and NO FREEBIES !

The amount of FREE information that was available from some of the TOP people in Dogs, Cats and Rabbits etc, in this country, surely covered the entrance price


In relation to having more outdoor event's, I'd love to see the comments on here today if there were outdoor events, and it lashed for the 2 full days ! It was held in July last year !

I for one will surely return next year, for the right reasons.

koneko

Are you affiliated with the Expo yourself?

I get your point on Freebies, it wasn't my main complaint, but the €10 analogy doesn't hold up since for a lot of us it involves travel to get there. Still, I wasn't looking for freebies myself, I just felt there wasn't as much to do as last year and it was wwwaaaaaaayyyy too cramped, especially when bringing a dog

Really liked the breed village though! I hope that stays
I'd prefer if it was held earlier in the year again.

Paul T Barry

Yes, I worked on a voluntary basis, helping Pet Expo with the Breed Village.

I have been to Discover Dogs held at Crufts each year, and also as a stand alone event in Earls Court, London, and boy, if you want to see cramped I suggest a visit to the same.

No matter where the event is held, somebody will have to travel, like some of the people in the Breed Village that travelled from West Cork, at their expense, giving up their time to promote responsible Dog Ownership,

borderlinemeath

I was there on Saturday from about 1pm to 3pm and it was quite packed by the time I left.

Andrea, I didn't get to say hello, You were always busy!! Lots of interest in your rotties from everybody! I did get to give Cooper a little pet though, georgeous boy, your little girl was resting in her crate.

Also saw Suzi Walsh on her stand, I only recognised you cos we have a few mutual friends on FB who have shared the link of your new venture. Not stalking I swear!

I did think it was quite compact, given the nature of the event, I'm glad I didn't bring my 2 dogs, Coco would have had a fit at the farm animals and Benson wouldn't have been fit for the big crowds yet.
I didn't attend last year so have nothing to judge it on, but a bit more space would have been nice.

Sigma Force

I'm already a responsible pet owner so I go for the freebies lol..nah just kiddin. The expense for me is the travelling up there etc. not the tickets themselves, I think the tickets on their own are very reasonable but when you have to organise pet minders etc. and travel up and stay over etc. etc. like some of us culchies do it does add up. A lot of pet owners don't get to get out or travel much because of their pet commitments so it's like the highlight of the year for a lot of people now...well ok for me anyway and I left feeling dissapointed.

If the pet expo was mainly about responsible pet ownership they shouldn't of allowed rabbits and guineas be housed together imo. I have huuuuge issues with this. It's something I can't let go I feel very strongly about it.

I don't see anything wrong with voicing our concerns and any issues people have after all they ask for feedback and this is it. Last year I thought it was great and so I'll give them their dues there but this year it wasn't for us fact.

Only part of the expo is about responsible pet ownership it's also about buisnesses promoting themselves so us pet owners can see what's on offer out there and see first hand up close their products which is a good thing because sometimes when you look at online shops you can't get the sense of scale when it comes to things like kennels and sometimes when you're dog is an awkward shape you need to bring them so you can get something that fits.

I do hope next year will be like last year and that it goes ahead, in fairness to people like myself who were dissapointed, the Cork one one year was a disaster and yet I still gave it a chance and went to the Dub one the year after but really we have to be sure next year that it's really worth the trip and expense to travel up.

Tanskin

Hey guys, I hope you don't mind me jumping on the thread. I was reading over it and have to agree, the sheer volume of people who attended or at the very least came to see us was unreal and we had slowly moving crowds a number of times who were near impossible to pass (does anyone have final figures of how many people actually went??) but due to how busy we were I didn't get to see what was going on with the rest of the displays. I did see many of the beautiful Dog breeds as they passed us by and spoke to a couple of the Dog owners but that was it as we just didn't have the time which is a real shame as I had more time to wonder & chat last year.

Also, I just wanted to make sure people know the Rabbit & Cavy who have been mentioned as being housed together had nothing what so ever to do with The Irish Rabbit Club / Emerald Isle Exotics. We were not aware of this, do not promote this and had we known we would have spoken to the owners in question and also the organizers.

We were there to promote husbandry & welfare and we had LOADS of freebies for people, lovely food samples, 20kg sacks of food as well as beautiful little rabbit-head charm braclets, all FREE and loads upon loads of care sheets. Oh and we also had some huge (22cm), rare exotic Centipedes not Millipedes and the Madagascan Hissing Roachs opened up so many peoples eyes as did the Rats and Mice for anyone who thought these animals are nothing but filthy, disease carrying things who should be eradicated so I think we did well on that front. Over all we had a really good time and hope people enjoyed our diverse display and unusual animals available for handling.

Cherry Blossom

Mod Post:

Okay, I know that pet expo have asked for feedback on the event via facebook, but they have specifically asked for this via e-mail, please keep this in mind and while we can all share our experiences of the weekend on this thread, lets be careful not to treat the thread as feedback for the organisers under the assumption that they are going to see this. Under boards site-wide rules the organisers themselves are unable to reply to these posts that are starting to sway towards being feedback for them. Specific concerns in relation to crowds, setup ect. would be best relayed via the contact details on the website. Please don't use the anonymity of a discussion board to state something you wouldn't state otherwise. I'm not saying anyone is doing this, I just don't want it to get out of hand and the thread to have to be locked.

Tanskin

I apologize if anything I said in my previous comment was deemed as anything bar my experience at Expo.

In saying that, surely anything anyone says in relation to their experience at the Pet Expo (or any event for that matter), be it from a visitors point of view or a displayers, regardless of whether they have a positive, negative or indifferent opinion on the overall event; the offering of ones' opinion is de facto feedback.

Inexile

I was at the Expo on both days on the Kerry Greyhound Connection stand. (thanks to previous posters's positive comments about us). In some ways I thought it was better than other years as there seemed to be more rescues and the breed village was brilliant - even though i didnt get to chat to many there. On Sunday I left the stand and went for a wander around. I didnt last long as the place so so busy I ran back to the comfort of the stand. Great to see all the dogs of all kinds and in particular to see so many lurchers and greyhounds - definitely there were more sighthounds there than previous years.

Sigma Force

@ Tanskin yeh I knew they weren't anything to do with them and they were way at the other end of the building. The rabbit club did a brilliant job the rabbits looked gorgeous and healthy and so relaxed it was brilliant to see them get a large amount of space to exhibit and educate bunny owners on their grooming and care.