Organization of the month
Atmosphere
When you first step onto the Spruce Meadows grounds, the cold spring air, snow raining down all around, and grey sky immediately will all feel worth it, even if the parking was hard to find. You find yourself filled with excitement at the thought of being able to celebrate your love for animals, wondering what you will see.
As you rush through the grounds wanting to get to the dog show, the smell of perogies, fries and much more wafts through the air, making you wish you had time to stop. There are adoptable dogs of all sizes walking all around you and you can’t help but to smile at their little orange vests and panting, smiling faces. It is laughable how some of them had painted tails of pink and blue.
Walking into the Equi-Plex centre, the slight smell of a barn fills your nose, and you look around to see booths set up all around, with a large number of people bustling from table to table, you promise yourself that you will explore the booths later, after the show.
Seeing a large crowd standing and sitting around the indoor stage filled with shaving. Children on parent’s shoulders are clapping and pointing. Walking fast towards the crowd you find a standing spot and grin your eyes lighting up as a dog runs onto the stage, you made it to PetFest.
Shows
At Pet Fest, which was held from April 11th to the 13th, there were all sorts of shows going from morning until night. From show dogs to police dogs to reptiles. Here were some of the shows that I was able to see.
Paws Fur Fun with Jen
In this show, I saw Guinness World Record-holding dogs who were on America’s Got Talent. At the beginning of the performance, many people left, not seeing the tricks they wanted, as Jen explained how you can train your dog at home. This left more of a gap for me to see the show. Dogs Daiquiri, Fabio, Tiny and more performed several tricks. There was a racing competition, a dance routine and dog jumping. “That dog jumped higher than you dad!” A little boy exclaimed beside me on top of his father’s shoulders. The father’s face was lit up in joy. People’s parents were also pulled from the audience, their legs being run through and their backs being jumped across. We even got to experience a Guinness World Record being created.
Sheep Herding
I watched from a seat that surrounded the arena as Lisa Wrights Border Collie Moss showed off his skills to the gathered crowd. He crawled eagerly towards the sheep, panting and smiling, hesitantly stopping and looking back at Lisa as she instructed him to stop. The sheep were gathered in the corner of the arena, making bleating noises. After showing off the basic skills, Lisa decided to make things interesting by getting the crowd involved. Many children rushed into the large arena before creating a line and a pen-like area with their little bodies. Lisa’s loud whistles instructing her dogs filled the air as Moss and his mother Star had a competition of who could herd the sheep into the fake pen of children the quickest, while navigating the many obstacles around the arena. “My attention was captured the whole show,” Frankie Bell, a PetFest enjoyer, commented after the sheep herding show had finished.
Cobs Exotic Rescue
Children were sitting right in front of the small black stage. Their eyes were wide in wonder as they waited to see what animal was in the bag that the man on stage was holding. He ended up reaching into the small purple bag and pulling out a Sugar glider, which immediately peed and pood on him, causing laughter to fill the room. After explaining that they are not good pets to keep because of their love for biting and screaming all night, I do not think that anyone will be getting a Sugar glider as a pet anytime soon.
Booths/exhibits
There were so many vendors and things to see and learn about as I walked around the grounds. First in the Equi-Plex centre, lines of booths were set up. They had everything from sweet treats to non-profit organizations and dog photography. I grabbed a sweet but very sour lemonade and made my way around all of the booths. “Good photography doesn’t come from your camera or equipment but from your heart,” Jennifer Dooley, photographer and owner of Heads and Tails, had words of encouragement for beginner photographers.
Snakes, Chameleons and Capibaras OH MY! The Reptilian Pavilion had so many reptiles and mammal friends to visit and even to pet. Speedo, a large African tortuous, was available for all who wanted to touch his large tan shell, while others had a cost to pet, all of the proceeds going to COBS rescue. Lizards, spiders and many more creatures were available to buy and bring home, in case you did not want a furry but a scaled companion.
If scaled creatures were not what you came for, there were many adoptable cats and dogs in the round glass huts, all in a row outside. Many people had items like dog toys, shirts and cups for sale that helped their non-profit organizations. In the Aarcs booth, there were pictures of adoptable or fosterable animals that couldn’t be there in person hung all along the wall. Even if you could not take an animal home, in some of the outdoor booths, puppies were lounging around waiting to be petted and cuddled. This was to no one’s surprise, a large attraction. Who does not love a good snuggle with a little puppy?