Meet the Breeds Wrap-Up

Dakoozi was at the Canadian Pet Expo this past weekend as part of the CPE Breeder's Village: Meet the Breeds event representing the Basset Hound Club of Canada and the Basset Hound breed.

We had an amazing time meeting all the wonderful people who stopped in to say hi and meet our dogs. It was a full weekend, and the dogs all slept like logs the whole way home.

As if it wasn't already an amazing experience, our booth also got named the Booth of the Day on the very first day of the event! Thank you to retired professional handler and Canadian dog judge, Will Alexander, for the honour, as well as Ian Lynch and Grant Crossman for the wonderful prizes and for all the work done organizing these incredible events!

We were joined by Justin and Cassia on Friday (who brought their girls Wednesday and Ruth to hang out with Dallas and Ace). This was our scheduled day for our interview on stage with Ian. To say I was nervous to do this is a huge understatement, but I had support on stage, and managed to hide my nerves long enough to get the interview done.

Friday was our busiest day of the event. The people came in large crowds, giving us little time to sit down, relax, or even visit the Expo! By the end of the day, I don't know what was more worn - my feet, or my voice. Some of the other exhibitors asked what was going on down at our booth because of the steady crowds all day ... all I could say was that the dogs were drawing a lot of attention!

Saturday, we had Diana from Cressman Ranch and Janet from Smylieridge Bassets spend the day with us (Janet is the president of our national breed club). They brought Cruz, Dory and Winchester to round out the numbers with Pepper, Izzy and Dallas.

The group had a great time talking to tons of people again. It was another day of high interest in our booth, and the crowds just kept coming. We answered so many questions and couldn't believe the interest from the general public in learning about the dogs, the history and the breed in general. They got to interact with wonderful representations of the breed, and most fell instantly in love with them. Many were thrilled to meet a basset hound in real life for the first time.

Sunday was the quietest day, most likely due to being Easter. We still received a fairly steady flow of people through the day, and Dallas was in his glory being the centre of attention.

The hounds had such a good time soaking up all the love and scratches. They even made a few young friends who couldn't stay away throughout the weekend and were often found sitting beside (or IN) the pen, showering the dogs with love.

Pepper had fun walking through the Expo. She had to make a stop at the Rollover booth to beg for some treats and model for the rep.

What a wonderful event this had been to help raise awareness about purebred dogs, reputable breeders, and teach the public about our breed in general.

We got some great ideas for next year's booth and can't wait to be back to do it all again!