Sunday's Super Pet Expo, Dulles, Virginia

Sunday is a Super Day for the Super Pet Expo (Dulles Expo Center)

Here are some of the unique and fascinating events to see and new, creative items for you and Fido.

Education

So Many Toys! Jen Cao,

vice-president of Zippy Paws, gives an excellent presentation on how to select the best toys for your dog (squeakies, stuffies, etc. – for chewers, for cuddlers, etc.)

One of her new toys are the Floaterz and their catalog and webpages are a fun work of art!

Zippy Paws also has leashes, cooling vests for K9s, and the newly popular subscription boxes.

Toy Chests Galore

A Pennsylvania company, R&B Crafts, has delightful toy boxes. I have drooled over them for years – simply elegant and now they also make signs of all sorts.

Walk Your Dog?

Who doesn’t walk their dogs? Then you need the Waly Wag bag to hold keys, phone, poop bags and wear around your waist, or, like I do, over the shoulder. This company is based in Annapolis.

Want Everyone to Know Your Dog Belongs to You?

You can dress like your dog if you have a little dog. Or, if you have any size dog, why not a matching collar (for Fido) and a belt (for you). Get yours at C4 Dog Collars and Belts.

“Choose Your Color – Choose Your Cause.” Would you believe they are waterproof, comfortable, antimicrobial, odorless, eco friendly and easy to clean plus you can personalize yours! What more can you ask for?

Everyone Loves a Clean Dog

Groom is a new natural cleaning, conditioning shampoo-alternative that is easy to use – just place one tablet in the showerhead (or connect to the garden hose) and turn on the faucet.

Or, drop a tablet in a basin and soak those canine paws – wonderful for treating all four puppy paws that experience ice- and snow- and salt-buildup during the long cold northern winter months. This product is brought to you in the US by a family of Labrador retrievers so it has been lab-tested and approved!

Take Fido on Vacation to the Poconos

Talk to the good folks at Good Dog! Vacations and they’ll tell you about their chalets with the in-ground dog pools and fenced-in backyards for all their chalets with access to a trout stream and nature trails. Good Dog Vacations at Big Valley Resort has been in business for 37 years so you know they really know their stuff.

New Pup? No Problem!

Stop at the Chill Pups booth and solve all your problems with a Chill Pups Training Kit:

clicker, a treat toy, a leash, a food and water bowl, harnesses to grow into and training information. Oh, and treats and a treat bag, too, and probably more that I forgot! The website has beautiful photos and great blogs, too.

Need a Break?

Stop at one of the Lure Coursing demo areas and tire your pup out.

We all know a tired dog is a good dog, right. Then, tonight, find out more about this new canine sport starting with Luring101.com - I don’t know who enjoys Lure Coursing more – dogs or their humans! (Watch a video on the website.) It’s a blast and will keep you laughing in stitches. Dogs seem to be naturals at this. Shown is the attractive outside of a luring course at the Super Pet Expo.

We love the final rule posted: “We may ask you to chase the lure with him [your dog]. This will not help much but everyone watching will love it.”

Need a Hug? Not Here. How ‘Bout a Kiss?

Visit one of the Kissing Booths like the one pictured (Key to Lion’s Heart Rescue based in Maryland). What is better than a puppy kiss? This puppy kissing booth is sponsored by a dog rescue.

No Bones About It

It’s true: a dog can never a bone that’s too big. Why not try an ostrich femur, a leg bone (the birds are raised at Roaming Acres)

or a bison bone? Your dog will love it and love you for it.

More “Puppie Love”

The vendor with the most unique business cards simply has to be a Baltimore company, Puppie Love (Save, Rescue, Love),

with the bestest t-shirts and hoodies and jewelry and drinkware and decals and adorable designs of a generic lab puppy - like the new sport of Stand Up Paddling (SupPup).

I bought three T’s to go with the one I purchased at the World of Pets (Maryland state fairgrounds in January) but two are gifts. This family-owned company puts the designs on sea island colors like watermelon and butter and island reef (aqua) and blue jean. “Tie Dye” is the best-seller. How about the one below for Mother's Day?

And What About Puppy Paws to Wear?

Puppy Paws specializes in paw-shaped jewelry such as Mother’s Paws with crystals to commemorate the birthstones of your important pets and Memory Paws to remember the pets who have gone over the bridge but Puppy Paws can also help guests wipe their hands.

As you can see, there is so much at the Super Pet Expo to experience. You’ll love it!

Super Pet Expo: Dulles Expo Center - Worth the Drive!

Do you have a SuperPet? Of course you do!

The Super Pet Expo is today and tomorrow at the Dulles Expo Center and is a must!  You can easily spend all day there (and even grab something to eat like I did on Friday ) – and it’s not just for dogs but cats and bunnies and snakes and more!

Bunny Agility

Doors open at 10 am. Saturday the event closes at 7 pm and Sunday it winds up at 5.

Here are some of the wonderful experiences for you and your dog (yes, Fido is welcome, too) and parking is free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

Leashes and collars and dog and cat beds. 

Colorful beds for Kitty and Bunny

Treats and food and toys.

Veronica's Treats for Fido

The usual wonder brooms and dog shampoos and bathroom remodeling companies.

And, being in the Washington, DC, area plenty of booths about military working dogs – bringing them home from combat and dog toy donations for first responder dogs and even a booth where you can learn what you can do to help veterans get a trained service dog (Veterans Moving Forward).

Veterans Moving Forward

And your dog can even have a go at a great new sport, lure coursing. Watch rabbit agility! See more snakes than you ever have in your whole life in Repticon and attend a cat show. So, Go!

Entrance to the reptile world

DVD Review: Spooky Buddies (Halloween, puppies)

Spooky Buddies, adapted by Catherine Hapka (Disney, 2011, 122 pages, a chapter book)

Not only does Disney publish little books for little kids (picture books), but, as we recently found out, also chapter books like Spooky Buddies! And, like other books written after the movie, this one serves to bring up all the fun scenes from that experience. Eight photos from the film help.

With 14 chapters, Spooky cannot be read in one goodnight-story-session-to-settle-the-kids-down but the kids will remember every character and all the subplots while parents will feel inundated with the hurried pace (as if Disney had to write all the scenes into 122 short big-print pages). On the other hand, it may be too scary for the littlest ones, especially if read at night.

Air Bud Started It All

Do you remember all five kids and the names of their golden retriever pups? And Sheriff Dan and Deputy Sniffer? Add in a couple of bullies, a cemetery caretaker, Mrs. Carroll and Mr. Carroll and Mr. Johnson, a Halloween Hound (not a read hound), a ghost pup named Pip, Frankendude, a book of spells, a haunted scepter, a mirror, a hoot owl named Hoot, green eyes, a gypsy dog Zelda, warlock Warwick, and the usual bad guys and parents soon become lost in the plots – but not the kids!

Caveat: a complex Halloween story based on the movie which may frighten 6-year-olds. The book is an authentic memory of the movie but may bring up scary memories and thoughts when read at night.

More: Rosebud’s webpage

This will be re-posted in October.

Book Review: The Only Woman in the Room (OT) (Hedy Lamarr, frequency hopping)

The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel, by Marie Benedict (Sourcebooks, 2019, 254 pages, $25.99)

 

The Beautiful Hedy Lamarr

The most beautiful woman in the world. The teenage girl who married the wealthiest man (an arms dealer) in Austria and who hosted dinner parties for Mussolini and Hitler. The wife who was kept under lock and key for five years until she escaped her castle disguised as her maid, landing in London on her way to Hollywood. The star who talked MGM into a salary five times the original offer. The Grade B movie star whose name everyone knows. The scientist and inventor. Scientist and inventor?

After six husbands, this most beautiful woman underwent plastic surgery, shoplifted and became a recluse.

Too Beautiful to Create Frequency-Hopping?

Was her beauty a disadvantage? Why didn’t the US Navy accept her design of a guided torpedo system that was unjammable, using frequency hopping? Was it because the inventors were a famous actress and a pianist who based their design on the 88 piano keys?

Why frequency-hopping anyway? Was it because our heroine really felt guilty hearing about the Axis war plans and not telling anyone? Did her remorse lead to her designing improvements to the weapons capability of the US, her adopted country? Or was that only exaggerated self-importance? Did she take those plans with her ‘from the other side’?

Style

Following on the heels of the 2017documentary, Bombshell, Marie Benedict’s The Only Woman in the Room, is a suspenseful, short, fast-reading novel.

The 44 chapters are short which makes the book easy to put down and pick up again when the reader has just a moment and each chapter is uniquely titled only with the date and location (city, state, e.g.). Most chapters tell the story months after the preceding chapter but do give a quick summary of what took place in the meantime so the timeline is continuous.

Benedict’s writing style is fun and fast with plenty of thought-provoking questions. Only the discussion questions at the end (for book clubs) are elementary. I see this as a movie with narrator voice-overs.

The author also penned the fictional ‘true’ story of Einstein’s cousin-wife and Carnegie’s maid. The Hedy Lamarr book has a sample chapter of the new Darling Clementine (Churchill) historical novel, written in the same style (which can easily become tedious).

And the Title?

The title, The Only Woman in the Room, appears twice in the novel and can have more than one meaning. Hopefully your book club will select this book and members may present various interpretations, from Hedy being that rare woman scientist (without the requisite academic background) to Hedy hosting dinners for various country leaders who were mostly men to . . . .

In summary, this reviewer learned a very entertaining ‘bunch of stuff’ and really felt what it was like to be a member of the wealthy elite (and to be an abused wife) and looks forward to reading more historic novels by Marie Benedict - but not for a while (have to let the writing style recede a bit first).