Rewritten from Fostoria Focus Newspaper in Fostoria, OH.

Pet Expo a howling success!
by Susan Holderman


It was a 'dog day afternoon' recently for pet owners and their canine companions attending the first Pet Expo of Hancock County held at the Howl-a-Day Inn Doggie Day Care in Findlay.

The expo was sponsored by Howl-a-Day owner, Cindy Smith; groomer, Toni Montgomery; trainers Tammy Conmay and Toni Gossard of National Dachshund Races.

The purpose of the Pet Expo was to raise funds for obtaining health care and safety equipment for the Hancock Country Sheriff's Office two K-9 Unit dogs, Max and Caikli.

The Hancock County Humane Society greeted visitors as they walked in the door with information about their services, volunteer opportunities, adoption proceedings plus reminding everyone there are plenty of pets at the shelter presently waiting adoption.

At the Final Touch grooming booth, Bo, a small white Maltese, was patiently enduring a touch up trim on his legs. Also at the booth were Dude and Pride, two charismatic Papillion's, who seemed to enjoy showing off a bit for anyone interested, especially Dude, who would sit on his back legs and 'wave' with his front paws.

The Eukanuba booth, not only had information about their pet food products, but also an array of toys and treats under the table which were sniffed at enthusiastically by three busy little Boston Terriers, Moe, Duncan, and Max. I learned the importance of micro chipping and tattooing pets for indentification when I stopped to chat at the Pine Valley Kennel booth.

I met some beautiful greyhounds at the Greyhound Pets of America, Inc. Booth. Hope, Amber, JJ, Angel, and Sissy were the most docile dogs at the event. Greyhound Pets of America is a non profit organization dedicated to finding responsible and loving homes for greyhounds who no longer qualify for the racetracks.

More information can be found on their website www.gpaoh.com . At 1:00, Eddie, the educational dog from the Toledo Zoo treated attendees to a performance showing off his skills in agility exercises.

Eddie is a friendly 5 year old Springer Spaniel/Austrailian Shepard mix adopted from the Lucas County dog pound. He lives at the children's zoo, so is very child oriented.
This summer Eddie will be giving demonstrations of his skills at the Toledo Zoo from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.

Along with visiting the booths and vendors at the expo, signing up for the silent auction and winning raffles, entertainment was also provided by canine visitors and their owners. After Eddie's performance, I noticed a ruckus over in the corner where two Siberian Huskies and a Bull Mastiff were having a wonderful time socializing! Having only seen a Bull Mastiff on television or in books, I was curious to find out more about the breed and wandered over to talk to the owners.
I found out Ronan the Mastiff and Kaiya, a Siberian Husky are close companions. They had just met Shyanne (also a Siberian Husky) for the first time and were becoming great friends! At three years old Ronan weighs in at 122 pounds and according to his owner, has a tendency to be a lap dog!

While waiting for the Hancock County Sheriff's Office to give demonstrations with the stars of the event, Max and Caikli, I checked out the National Dachshund Races booth and found information about a "Doxie" race and fasion show September 25, at the Hancock County Fairgrounds.

I also met and visited with "Miss Millie" a petite Chinese Crested (hairless dog) with a wild little tuff of white shaggy hair on her head. Millie was 'rescued' by her owner on a website for rescuing Chinese Crested's.

Not onlt was she the strangest breed attending the festivites, but the most adorable and everyone who saw her was immediately smitten.

Sergeant Matthew Kinsinger took center floor and explained what K-9 Unit dogs Max and Caikli would be demonstrating. Deputy Frederick Smith and Max were the first to show off their combined team effort of tracking narcotics!

Max is a 4-1/2 year old black Labrador Retreiver originally from Indiana. He was pre-trained in the art of tracking narcotics when he arrived at the sheriff's office in 2001. Deputy Smith is trained to handle Max, and when off duty, Max resides at his home.

Four children from the audience were picked to sit on chairs. One char had drugs taped to the bottom. On command, Max and his trainer went from chair to chair, when Max found the drugs, he gave Deputy Smith his signal, pawing frantically at the back of the chair. Several pizza boxes were then scattered around with Max indicating which box held the drugs by eagerly pawing at the box.

After Max completes his searches, he is always given his favorite toy to play with. His reward for a job well done! Deputy Ron Digby and his K-9 dog Caikli were next on the scene.

Caikli is a three year old German Shepard, hailing from Budapest, Hungary. Caikli is not only trained in narcotics detection, but also responds to subject aggression on command. Caikli and Deputy Digby demonstrated finding the drugs under the chair and in the pizza box, and Caikli then showed everyone how he handles an aggressive subject.

Deputy Dominic Francis volunteered to play the part of the aggressor. A padded sleeve was put on his arm, and as Sergeant Kinsinger tried to 'arrest' him, he resisted. Deputy Digby gave Caikli the command. Caikli wasted no time in getting to the aggressor, attacking his arm, and stopping his behavior! Caikli was then given the padded sleeve to toss around, along with his favorite tug toy as his reward.

Deputy Digby takes Caikli home when off duty and says while at home, Caikli is just like any other family dog. While the Pet Expo was an entertaining opportunity for all dog lovers to wile away the afternoon, for Max and Caikli, it meant much more. One year of vaccinations were donated, compliments of the Findlay Animal Hospital and over $1000 was raised for their needs during the expo!

A howling success for two very special canine deputies!