Bark World 2013, Day 2

One of my all time favorite pet celebrities, Victoria Stilwell of  Its Me Or The Dog at her book signing and lecture about using positive training techniques.     

The start of day 2;
Breakfast with the power cat bloggers and a few of our favorite pooches.

Preston, of Preston Speaks blog stares down a plate of eggs and bacon.

Kona

Sophia Lauren.

Breakfast with bloggers and brands, and more free snacks!

Natural Balance hosted a scrumptious breakfast! A meet and greet with many of the cat lovers, cat influencers, and those of us who post our stories about our feline friends.

Natural Balance is a premium pet food that has been around for decades (ask how many of the smaller premium brands can say that?) Having a history and track record is super important for those of us who do not like to be a guinea pig, and are a bit hesitant in this age of recalls, pet health scares, and deaths by ingestion of hidden toxic ingredients.


Meeting the sponsors, more free stuff (yippee!!) and swapping pet stories, experiences, and
networking.

At the opening ceremony we were introduced to Petco Unleashed, their motto and mission; 

"As pet stores go, we’re anything but ordinary. Unleashed by Petco hit the pet scene in 2009, with our first store in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood. Our concept is simple – provide the same knowledge and know-how offered by Petco in a unique, smaller package."

Matt Silverman, from uber-successful Mashable and Fluffington Post, also spoke on his interest and early beginnings with social media. His keynote address was on "How To Make Your Content More Social."

The origin of the Fluffington Post was a series of successful "cute" posts that delivered traffic to a relatively unknown and unintended source of random pet articles, stories, and jokes.

His suggestions for creating awesome content for the web;

• Think about how we consume content
• Think about how we create networks that are off the map. In other words we need to live there and be a part of the culture.
• By using good humor, and remember that cute animals power the internet.
• Your targets; the first audience;loves satire, helps to connect w the media elite,
• The second audience, those who love dogs and cats, and share w others, via FB, etc
• quick wit, humor, and short, succinct, light-hearted humor to bring all of us into a shared moment.
• Some of his personal favorite headers;
• "12 weird free items on craigslist"
• "10 cats clearly plotting to kill their owners"
• "you'll find these 14 types of parent on FB"
• Other ways to grab people is to be timely. This makes content more pertinent to whats going on in the world
• "New leaked NSA docs reveal kitten snooping program" 
• "Kitten faces lifetime ban for cuteness enhancing drugs"

Doggie daycare...

"Hello!, Grab treats, I'll bust the lock and meet you at the coffee lounge!"

And even cat grooming!

Now that's the whole pet-enchilada!

"Pet me, go ahead, I dare you. No, I double dog dare you."

Tagapet. $19.95 one time fee for a scanable pet id collar.

Afternoon Key Note Speaker; Victoria Stilwell, of It's Me Or The Dog, on Animal Planet.

Discussing her book, "Train Your Dog Positively."

One of the best parts of a Victoria Stilwell event is meeting her.
She is a kind, generous, gentle, humble soul.
She is as wonderful in person as she is on her show.
If you ever get an opportunity to see, or meet her, do.
She's worth it.

The captive Pawbly audience.

Here are some of Victoria's take home messages;

• Positive training is all about fostering the bond between an animal and people, (I think I created this slogan, I did!), and to educate us all so that we can live in harmony.
• Her slogan, "I want the dog to do things with me because she wants to..versus because she fears something if she doesn't. 
• Do this by encouraging the dog to learn.
• Why is it so important? Because over 800, 000 people are bitten every year. Most of them are children.
• Her key ingredients to success;
• Innovation through powerful partnerships.
• Building the Right Team
• Broad Platforms. Spread out into places you believe in.
• Lastly, pay it forward.

Victoria also promoted the following dog products;

• iCalmDog. This little that sound therapy is powerful. She uses it to help keep dogs calm in all situations. 
• dogtv. Provides exposure to sounds to help condition them to acclimate to sounds that might otherwise cause them anxiety. Works great for separation anxiety.
• dogntion.com. How does your dog think?  These are science based games. This site is especially designed for your dog.

And her last take home message to us; Kindness is powerful, and remember to Do No Harm. I just love her. She inspires me and motivates me to be a better person and the person my pets want me to be.

Stay tuned for Day 3...then back to be with my own babies..

If  your pet is in one of these photos and I did not provide their name, blog, or information on them, and you would like me to add it please email me and I will happily include it.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Bark World. It is the realization of a personal dream to see so many dedicated passionate pet people gather to promote responsible pet care.