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Business & Tech

Pet Lovers Have a Field Day at Super Pet Expo

Super Pet Expo at the NJ Convention Center featured over 150 vendors and entertainment for pets, pet lovers, and their families.

Edison went to the dogs over the Valentine’s Day weekend.

That's because the Super Pet Expo returned to the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center.  Adults and kids were welcome, but they were secondary to the real stars of the event - the pets that accompanied the families. 

The pet expo, after all, was devoted to the furry friends.  Pets were welcome to attend, provided they were on a leash (the pet, not the family, that is.) 

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The Expo featured vendors selling all manner of pet accessories, from leashes and harnesses to doggie treats to portraits of your favorite four-legged family member. 

The expo hosted daily shows for kids and families, including Rizzo’s Reptiles, where kids get to learn about snakes, iguanas, and other cold-blooded creatures, and Smithfield, the painting pig (who has appeared on Oprah and America’s Got Talent in recent years). 

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There were also pony rides and inflatables for children to play on.

Animal adoption services were also out in full force at the Super Pet Expo, for volunteers hoping to find a place for dozens of pets in need of a permanent home.  “We bring over dogs from mostly Kentucky” to find homes in this region, said Allison Gupko of Rogers’ Rescues as she attended to Gordo, one of a handful of pooches awaiting adoption. 

“We’re looking for volunteers to foster or to be involved in the adoption process,” added Jacky Fernandez, noting that Rogers’ Rescues is a network of volunteers in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania that works to place dogs from shelters in rural areas (where there isn’t a large enough population to find adoptive homes for all of the animals in shelters in the area) with families in New Jersey.

Whether you were looking to adopt or just pick up some doggie toys and treats otherwise unavailable in most pet stores, the Super Pet Expo offered a full day’s worth of entertainment. 

Chloe, the police dog attending with Captain Richard Yokum of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, tried to catch a nap on the Expo floor between posing for pictures. 

“She’s just resting,” said Yokum.  “The kids wore her out.”

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