One of our fantastic members, Deb from Riverwind Shilohs, actually found a brand-new Pet Expo for our club to attend this year! We talked to the management about getting a Meet the Breed booth and they were so impressed with us that our representative actually gave us a free booth. We brought flyers, trifolds, business cards, and a Q&A that Sparta Shilohs LBITs Zak and Anne created with some of the most frequently-asked questions that we've heard at other Expos and canine festivals. We set it all out on our lovely club Meet the Breed banner.
We expected the pace to be brisk, but we were blown away by the number of people attending! Although this was a new Expo, they had advertised well, and we were buried under waves of people fascinated by our dogs, all asking bunches of questions. We ran out of cards, trifolds, and the Rescues and Rehomes flyer...we ran out of Q&A's and had to print more, and then we ran out of those, too! Here's Anne explaining what Shilohs are and pushing the printed materials on some unsuspecting Expo attendees. Kyrie is with her but for some reason we didn't manage to get her in the shot!
Linda attended from Tulsa OK, bringing her Lily. Below, Lily puts on her silly face for the camera. She liked sitting on that bench, but she didn't need the height--she was already the tallest Shiloh there, and she was just a puppy!
Deb and Mel from Riverwind Shilohs in OKC brought BJ. Here's BJ relaxing with Mel during one of our rare slow times!
Zak and Anne from Sparta Shilohs brought Leo and Kyrie. It was very cold, and the dogs often lay down on their blankets or on the cushions in their x-pens, which were warmer than the poured cement-and-gravel they had us on. Here are Leo and Kyr on top of their super-size pillow (big enough for both of them!) waiting for another wave of people to hit. Notice the really cute little boy looking through the glass at them--behind the glass there was the registration booth. We got a TON of people registering, then coming right outside to meet our dogs!
Below, Leo waits for the next wave of little kids. One thing I wish I would have gotten a shot of--there was a little boy who just LOVED Kyrie. He didn't want to do anything but give her hugs! He put his arms over her back like he was putting a saddle on her, and just stood there and hugged her until his dad peeled him off and took him away. We were sad to see him go. What a sweetie!
The Shilohs carried on through it all like real Champs! Even with all the barking from the shelters' displays (they had at least fifteen to twenty dogs looking for new homes just down the aisle from us), an actual farmyard show with ponies and chickens right in front of us, the Rabbit Adoption around the corner, and being mobbed by hordes of little kids, they were living testimonials to the marvelous stability and temperament of the breed.
At the end, all the members of the management team of the Expo came to talk to us. They told us that they were tremendously impressed with how well-behaved and calm our dogs were through the whole event, and begged us to come to the next one! It looks like they are looking at putting on two of these a year. We said we'd love to--it's nothing but more great publicity for the ISSR Shiloh Shepherds!
The one thing we regret is that we were SO busy we didn't have time to get more photos! Next time, we're appointing someone "Club Photographer" and handing them a camera--any of you guys out there want to volunteer for the job? Grab your Shiloh trifolds and come on out for the next Expo--we'll see you there!
