pet connection

Last week the Pet Connection sent a team of reporters to Global Pet Expo, which is not only the largest pet industry trade show, but the eight-largest trade show of any kind in the entire world. We fan out across the massive Orlando convention center, each of us looking for a dozen or so products to make the first cut for Dr. Becker’s Best, a top 10 list we put together at this show every year.

Then we meet and trim the list, cross-check each others’  lists, meet again, argue, negotiate and finally come up with 10 items, and then suggest to Dr. Becker which of them the team likes best. He then picks the No. 1 product, and usually adds or deletes one from the list of 10, and then it’s another mad hustle to get the vendors to pull products out of their booth for the press conference.

And then …

The “Good Morning America” producers huddle with Dr. Becker to figure out which of the 10 they’ll have on the show, a selection that’s always guaranteed to disappoint someone. Some hopes get dashed right away, when companies don’t get asked to send product to New York at all — the GMA folks don’t have time for 10 products, so they tend to choose those that make the best TV. But I always feel worse for the occasional product that makes it to the set, but doesn’t get on TV because of a last-minute time constraint or other problem. Last year, that was the Warm Whiskers Pet Therapy Jacket; sadly, the company website is gone, the domain name for sale. Would getting on “GMA” last year have made the difference? Who knows, and really, it’s not our job to think about it, or the “GMA” producers’, either. So it goes …

This year, the “GMA” folks asked for couple of products in addition to the Becker’s Best 10, making the competition for time even more keen. We’ll see this morning who makes the cut for the segment, when Dr. Becker appears on the show this morning. I’m guessing the Best in Show winner — the Food Maze from Hagen – will make it, since the top winner seems to have a leg up. I’m guess the Eyenimal pets-eye-view videocam will, too, just because of the “wow!” factor. Anything else is anyone’s guess.

Check it out this morning on your ABC affiliate. Dr. Becker will be back on the show April 15, for the official launch of “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual,” after which he and I (and my dog McKenzie) start a two-month, 30-city book tour on a specially wrapped 45-foot “rock-star” bus.

More on that last thing soon, I promise!

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(Gina’s note: Kathie Kerr is our publicist for the 30-city Big Bus Tour that kicks off April 25 in Houston for the new book, “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual.” She came to Orlando during Global Pet Expo, so all the tour folks could have a final planning meeting. After the meeting, I asked her to take a spin through through the trade show and share her impressions.)

When you’ve attended as many trade shows as I have, even the greatest of them can become a little dull after that 50th trip down the aisle. That’s when I don my alternative personality and become the fairy godmarketer. I leave the earthly carpeted floors of trade shows like the Global Pet Expo and enter the realm of my imagination in which exhibitors have unlimited budgets to jazz up their presentations –  building codes be damned.

My first act  as fairy godmarketer  would be to create an event to show off the tens of thousands of high-fashion cat and dog collars displayed at the show.  In display cases they are boring, but make them part of a fashion show sporting celebrities wearing their favorite collars, and old boy:  Lady Gaga has on a Cartier dog collar made from reclaimed meat packaging products with a diamond entrusted buckle. Charlie Sheen sports the “winner” collar, a no-holds bar clear transparent collar with a cocktail mixture swooshing around inside.

On the next stage (yes, there are several stages), there’s an international Bollywood musical going on. Beautiful men and women in eye-popping costumes are dancing and singing the story of how  Himalayan Dog Chew got its start in humble beginnings on yak and cow farms in the mountains near Nepal. The latter part, at least, is true.  Himalayan Dog Chew began in 2003 when of one its founders, Sujan Shrestha, took in an abandoned puppy off the streets in the eastern city of Ilam in Nepal. The puppy ate up the yummy treat that is a hard cheese-like product consumed by Nepali people, too. Supposedly, American dogs are loving it, too, and a side story is that the family venture is creating new and much needed economic opportunities for the yak and cow farmers.

As an urban chicken farmer, one of my favorite sections is the new hen houses and portable chicken coops. Over there, chef Bobby Flay is taking eggs freshly laid from the hundreds of exotic chickens on displayed and preparing omelets on demand for the crowds. The chickens ring a little bell with their beaks each time they produce a fresh egg.

There are so many games and toys to keep pets occupied that it’s hard to take them all in. But there’s one game for dogs that just can’t be overlooked—poker. Over in the games section, big screen televisions are relaying a blow-by-blow account of a high-stake poker game. The English bulldog appears to have the winning hand. C.M. Coolidge would be so proud.

Because my husband is a bicyclist, one of my favorite products at Pet Expo is the Bike Tow Leash, invented by mechanical engineer and service dog trainer Michael A. Leon.  You can hook your dog to your bicycle and the dog can trot along side-by-side the bike, without tipping the rider over. This is another family-owned and operated business venture. To demonstrate the product, guess who’s in the arena with his bike and greyhound, Spins? Well, of course, it’s Lance Armstrong and he’s wearing his black-and-white-spotted plastic wristband encouraging the world to be kind to animals.

Back by popular demand is the talent show and beauty contest to determine “America’s Veterinarian Idol.” Dr. Marty Becker, author of the new “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual,” took the crown after a ventriloquist act in which his dog, Quixote, sang “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Dr. Becker barely moved his lips at all and the leopard colored Speedo swimsuit was a shoe-in winner in the beauty contest.

Another favorite of mine: Judge Judy puts parasites on the stand to determine culpability in spreading diseases. They were small, but you could definitely hear their testimonies with today’s high tech microphones.

Finally, at the end of the show, (in my head, anyway), there was a touching finale when school children from the Orlando public schools and singer Celine Dion performed “It’s a Beautiful World,” while truck after truck loaded up items to be donated by the exhibitors to local pet shelters. That last part is true about the kind donations of items that exhibitors don’t want to pack and ship home. They are donated locally to pet shelters.

All-in-all, another job well done by the fairy godmarketer.

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I know the rest of the PetConnection team has already written their blog posts, but this is honestly the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down with my laptop. As usual, I’ve been on the move non-stop since Teresa and I got off the plane. I walk every inch of the trade-show floor, several times, and usually have a handful of commitments to sign books, act as a master of ceremony for one presentation or another … and of course, I know just about everyone here so I can’t make it 20 feet without stopping to say hello. I never used to “cover” Global Pet Expo, but since Gina and I became writing partners we’ve really had a blast building a reporting team and coming up with a list of our PetConnection crew’s favorite products from among the tens of thousands on display.

Before I get to the winners, though, I want to tell you how we went about choosing them.

The first day of the show, we break up and spread out, each of us with no expectations except to cover the 12 football fields worth of booth space in a few hours and look at every single booth at least once. This year, we sent four reporters out: Ericka Basile, who’s our product-review coordinator; David Greene, our associate editor and “field commander” for the show; and of course me and my wife, Teresa. Gina was supposed to be one of the reporters Wednesday, but she got stranded back at the hotel launching the website for our 30-city book tour next month.

Each of us ended the day with a list of about 20 or so products we wanted in consideration, and then David put all those in a spreadsheet for review Thursday morning. We winnowed down the list to about 30 or so, and we all went out to review the products again while Gina went out to see the semi-finalists for the first time. We met again at lunch and hashed out the finalists, then the winner. Ericka and the PR team from Global Pet then pulled the products for the announcement, which I just made.

Now, finally, it’s time to reveal “Becker’s Best” consensus winners.

Here’s our picks starting with my Best in Show:

Hagen Catit  Senses Line Food Maze ($24): Enrichment! As more and more of our cats live in the house for their own protection and the protection of potential prey (and to avoid conflicts with neighbors) too many of them are just plain bored. And overweight, besides. The need for environmental enrichment is very strong for cats, and we saw a lot of new products in this area, a few of which will be the topic of reviews in the future. Our team loved the Food Maze from Hagen, though, making it an almost unanimous choice for my Best in Show from all our final selections. It just stood out on so many levels, from design to price. There are several different modules to the Food Maze to add as you want, and cats will love having to hunt a little harder for their food. The team also thought watching the cats enjoy themselves would be entertaining for the kids in the family.

DogTek  Eyenimal video camera ($129): OK, I admit it, I love high-tech stuff. The Eyenimal is a small video camera, small enough to fit on even a cat’s collar. With 8 MB of storage and a couple hours of battery life, you can really get a lot of fun video from your pet’s point of view. Gina already nabbed a review product for the book tour, intended to record video from the collar of her dog McKenzie, who’ll be our official tour dog. So yes, we like this product so much we’ll be using it next month!

SmartyKat – Brush-Up $15. Keeping cats happy and entertained is always a challenge, right? The Brush-Up impressed all of us with its reasonable price and its tower of ”grabby” fingers for the cat to rub her body against. Creative, simple and inexpensive. Great combination!

Doggone Smart Pet Products – collars, beds, jackets, etc  $12-300. Products that make you say “Wow, I want that in my home!” is how our team described Doggone Smart Pet Products. Dog collars, pet beds and a whole variety of items that are all impregnated with nanotechnology that not only repels liquids, dirt and oils, but it’s bariostatic. That’s a fancy word for saying it keeps the bacteria that makes a dog bed stink from sticking to the bed. Again, I love technology!

Premier – Rip n Tug $12.99. I always admire Premier’s dedication to making toys that are durable as well as good looking. The Rip n Tug is coming to the market soon, and when it does, your dog will line up to play with it. It combines a rope with a tough toy that has a treat compartment buried inside. It combines the best of the rope pull toys with a treat dispenser. Best of all, if you have two dogs, they can both play with it!

Petmate – Clean Response Swivel Bin & Rake - $23.99. Everybody liked how easy this doggie waste cleanup tool was to use. In fact, Teresa wants to try this at Almost Heaven Ranch! It works like a dustpan and rake, with a tall handle (three feet in height). There is a large capacity waste container, and you use your own plastic grocery bags you might otherwise be throwing away.  Best of all, there’s an ingenious swivel design built in, so the waste stays in the bin while you’re transporting it to the trash can (picture at right showing me demonstrating. I think I might be doing this a lot at home).

Pet Projekt Bloat Blocker $10-15. We all liked the simplicity and elegant design of the Bloat Blocker. It’s an effective tool to keep dogs from gulping down their food and water too fast.  A dishwasher-safe obstacle suction cups to the food or water bowl, and slows down your dog’s intake speed. More gradual eating and drinking, less chance of air intake, less bloat! This can be removed from a bowl easily, and inserted into another one in seconds. Why didn’t I think of that?

Jordan Animal Solutions – Sunny Cat Seat Bed $19.99 (reviewed by our own Ingrid King on her consciouscat blog). Another simple, creative idea – give your cat a bed that lets her be not just near the window, but right next to it! It’s very simple – a perch that attaches with suction cups to a clean window surface. The beds are very strong, and won’t collapse, even when two cats are trying to wrestle on the bed! We all thought the price was right, too. For less than twenty dollars, your cat can have her favorite spot in the whole house.

P.L.A.Y – Pet beds $95-105. These are just flat out beautifully made pet beds that are all made from recycled materials. David Collins’ playful, attractive designs will fit seamlessly in any house or back yard, and with any decor. The quality and attention to detail in their fabrics blew us all away.

Zoo Med  Aquatic Turtle Banquet Block ($5): Ericka is always the advocate for items aimed at species I just don’t see much of, like turtles. Last year she found a turtle dock, and this year she liked this inexpensive product, which helps these pets get the nutrients they need.

Before the “Becker’s Best” choices were revealed, I was honored to announce the winners of Global Pet Expo’s New Product Showcase Awards. They’re under the jump, below!

(more…)

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Did any of your college classes change your life? Did any of them benefit you and the world around you?

Yesterday, one booth, staffed by kids (ok, they’re in their twenties, but I’m old, so that qualifies as kids to me), blew me away. The company is DuraDoggie, and although they make some terrific toys for dogs, let’s be honest. The number of dog toys in the market can be counted by the thousands. What sets DuraDoggie apart, apart from their quality, is these twenty-somethings are changing the world.

Let me backtrack. I met Raad Mobrem, DuraDoggie’s co-founder and President. He and two friends met while taking a course in entrepreneurship at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Their project was to create a fake product for a fake company. It seems Raad misunderstood the concept of fake. By the end of the course, the trio had fun, well-made products they could hold in their hands. They created something genuine, and they weren’t stopping when the school year ended. They decided to stay on the ride and make it a reality. What’s more, they knew that if the company was going to work they way they envisioned, ”success” would mean their responsibility wasn’t just to themselves to earn a profit, or their customers to make great products. They wanted to do well by doing good. Twenty percent of the profits from the company’s sales go to a non-profit benefit organization. But wait, there’s more. DuraDoggie leaves it to the customer to decide which cause should benefit. You get to “Chews Your Cause.” Clever motto, I thought.

The product on display in the booth at Global Pet was the Beba Toy. It’s a fun, colorful treat dispenser and squeaker in one. By colorful, I mean four colors.

• Blue benefits animals, specifically supporting no kill shelters
• Pink benefits breast cancer research, namely Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• Green benefits the planet, targetting land conservation and the planting of more trees.
• Orange benefits diabetes research, a cause close to Raad’s heart due to family connections.

Four different causes. You decide what color you want for your dog (or all four!), and one dollar out of every five will go directly to that cause. Name another pet product company that does that. Name another pet product company that gives you hope for the future of society. Name another company that makes you feel good about being their customer.

DuraDoggie is a company I’m shamelessly rooting for. I want them to be a model for everyone else here in Orlando, and for similarly aspiring entrepreneurs. Give your pet valuable enrichment, and improve your world.  Put another way, these young businesspeople created a solution with a surprise. Helping others works for all.

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You worry about your job. You turn on the TV and the news is upsetting. Your spouse is distant, your kids are into their social networks. Who do you turn to? If you’re like most Americans, you’ll be talking to … your pet. And you’ll be happy about it, too.

And when I say “most,” I’m not exaggerating. At the media conference here in Orlando at Global Pet Expo, Bob Vetere (pictured at right), president of the American Pet Products Association revealed the trade group’s annual snapshot of the pet-care industry, as well as the executive summary of the of the association special two-year in-depth overview of who has pets, what kind, what they spend on them and why.

How many of us are there? Pet-ownership is at all all-time high — up 2.1 percent since the last survey two years ago, to 72.9 million households — and in those households, the number and variety of pets has also increased. Not surprising, that means the amount of money spent on those companion animals has barely hiccuped during the recession, and is predicted to top $50 billion this year. For perspective, the amount of money spent on pets tops that spend on jewelry, candy and hardware, combined, and overall is the eighth largest retail sector.

“I’m constantly amazed at the resilience of this industry,” said Vetere in releasing the APPA figures. “Not only did we weather the recession very well, but we’re poised to take advantage of the recovery.”

While Vetere is speaking of the industry as a whole, it’s clear from any time spent on the trade floor that not only have consumers been spending relatively freely on pets, but corporations have, too. The rate of acquisitions of small companies and hot product lines by big international players has been staggering, and these companies are now squaring off like the superpowers they are to start competing tooth and claw against each other, both within the retail sector and in the larger pet-care section. For example, the APPA press conference was followed by the product release of Fiproguard Plus, the Sergeant’s Pet Care product that the company says has the same active ingredients as Frontline Plus, but that will be sold directly to the consumer through retail outlets, not veterinarians.

The Sergeant’s products will be competitively priced, of course, and that is the other underlying theme of this conference. While you can still spot products of pricey bling, they’re relatively rare compared to years past, and even the “silly stuff” is designed to as appealing on price as it is in cute.

Aggressive pricing is what everyone’s betting will lead the industry to another record-breaking year, as recession-battered consumers ease their way out to the purchase of non-essentials with small buys that make them as happy as their pets do.

“Their pets were a rock after a horrible day,” notes Vetere. “And now, people are wanting to reward their pets.”

And that’s what this industry is counting on.

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