Pet Tracks
TRADE SHOW IMPRESSIONS
with Jan Jaeger
From a popular seaside summer vacation playground in the mid-1800s to a frayed resort not so many years ago brought low by the increasing use of the automobile and airplane taking the traveling public to more exotic places, fast forward today to the striving and glittery skyline, the "Queen of the Coast," Atlantic City, which is my destination once again. This is the sixteenth year I have made the trip down I-95 to the Merritt Parkway, over the Tappan Zee Bridge and onto the Garden State Parkway for the annual pet industry Spring Trade Show.

Some years, the trip south is a welcome transition into a true spring, with bulb plants and early azaleas blooming, the trees leafing out in their intense bright greens, and the redbud trees showing off their delicate pinks. This year, though, the show is scheduled earlier than usual and the cold weather the entire East Coast endured these past few months has left the landscape vistas stark and wintery all the way down. At least, with the early start into daylight savings time, the day remains light until well after we have arrived and are settled into our lodging.

But there is something else different about this year too, and it takes a while for the difference to become apparent. The show atmosphere is subdued; it's the absence of pandemonium that finally registers. Not since our trip to the Chicago Christmas Trade Show in the October following 9- 11 has a trade show seemed so restrained. Even then, there was an underlying delight in having survived a nerve-racking foray through almost empty but tensely secure airport terminals and a comraderie of sharing an life-altering event among all those present at the show, vendor and visitor alike.

There is no national trauma this time, but the huge hall is quiet, at least as quiet as a convention hall the size of three football fields can be. There are no booming announcements over the sound system to interrupt our conversations with the vendors. There are no yapping dogs getting ready to perform, either dancing with their partners, or flying through the air into a huge swimming pool, or showing off their talents with agility demonstrations or performances. There are no ongoing grooming competitions with the quiet hum of many clippers clipping. It's just us, plodding along through the many aisles, and them, the hundreds of vendors wanting to entice new customers with their wares, and the sound of our voices.

So, then, each show has its own personality. Products too vary from the old favorites to the trendy item du jour and the vendor mix at each show is unique. It is always interesting to see what is exciting or awful or highly forgettable in the many products and booths the drivers of our industry think will sell.

It was a group consensus that the prize for the most outrageous booth goes to a vendor offering expensive imported metallic leather with six-inch self fringe covering everything from dog beds to raised dog dishes to pet carriers. Practical obviously isn't a consideration here. My own dog would have those long strands stuck together with dribbled water and bits of kibble in no time.

The color pink, the new black, is everywhere. We even note vendors named Pinkaholic and Pink Poodle. But perhaps we are becoming inured to the plethora of clothing now offered for those that want to dress their dainty, or not so dainty, pet. We no longer comment on fou-fou little outfits, coordinated tops and skirts, or even the ever present bling that sparkles on virtually everything wearable. Interestingly, one vendor offers Japanese traditional formal dresses, the kimono with obi, in three sizes, for your pooch's wardrobe. Elaborate wedding dresses and formal wear are no longer an oddity.

The idea of a board game called "Do You Look Like Your Pet," to me a fascinating phenomenon, catches my attention. My enthusiasm is crushed after enduring a lengthy and complex explanation of how to play it from the game creator; the originator has talked himself out of his product and I am no longer interested.

Another creative gift product is the world's first paint kit for pets. As proclaimed by the manufacturer "Find out if your pet is the next Jack Russell Pollock or Vincent Cat Gogh!" Art paper, dotted with paint and covered with a paw protector, is placed on the floor for your pet to walk across. These clever folks even offer a party kit so up to 10 pets can trample paint all over your floor! Then you frame the result.

Ah, well, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the world of pets. Without those being willing to think outside the box, where would we be. Now, if you will excuse me, I'll take another walk

through the show. I

Jan Jaeger is owner of Geronimo's, Ltd., Nantucket's pet supply and gift shop and is a member of Dog and Cat Writer's Associations of America (DWAA and CWA).. Her pets at home are Junior, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and three cats. At the shop are the cats, Messrs. Fish and Chips, Flower Bunny, Millie guinea pig and two budgies. Send e-mail to jan@geronimos.com.