Wrapping it Up at The SuperZoo Show in Vegas

Yesterday at the Superzoo show in Las Vegas I was mostly busy with vendor meetings so I only took a few photos. Like this giant talking dog at the entrance to the trade show floor. He greeted visitors, speaking like a stereotypical "surfer dude", waving his hands, er, paws and turning his head. I'm such a sucker for things like this, I just had to take a photo! In the morning I attended a seminar on pet food nutrition and natural pet foods. It was mostly stuff I already knew but I like to hear what's being said in the industry. As I made my way across the trade show floor, I saw a massive grooming demonstration taking place. There must have been 30 groomers, simultaneously working on stage. What was peculiar was that they were all grooming fake dogs. Yes, you read that right, fake dogs. They started with a dummy dog with long wild hair, which they groomed to look like a breed. Here is what I mean:

Above left: The "before" dummy dog with generic hair length. Above right: The near finished "after" dummy dog. This one was groomed to look like a miniature Poodle. It was weird, but actually pretty cool. Shortly after snapping this photo the announcer chastised me over the P.A. for using flash photography. Apparently it "blinds the groomer". By the way, in the photo above right, I selected that groomer among the 30 or so stations because it had a banner from my company up. We were one (of the many) sponsors of the Superzoo show.
Who Doesn't Love a Guide Dog?

Above: I forgot her name, but this was a really cool lab from the Guide Dogs of the Desert. He happened to be from Palm Springs which I found amusing since I was in Las Vegas. She was wearing "dog booties" which look silly but are actually quite practical in some instances. (especially search and rescue type stuff). I wonder if she had any luck at the slot machines though.
Dinner at The Wynn Hotel


After a long day on my feet at the Superzoo trade show I went to dinner at the Wynn Hotel in a restaurant called "SW". The Wynn is a fabulous hotel, on the scale of Bellagio. In true Vegas fashion, the restaurant decor was over the top. There were these massive umbrella-like things hanging from the ceiling above the restaurant. The bar (see photo left) was flanked by them, but even higher were the others (see below)


Above: The array of huge umbrella-like things hanging above the restaurant. They were really quite interesting and colourful (British spelling in honour of my readers from the UK).
A Signing Frog Emerges from the Pond


Above: We sat outside for dinner, with a beautiful view of a large pond, with a large wall with water cascading down. The lights under the pond and shining up on the wall would change color, which made the water appear to change color. During dinner, various things would emerge from the pond, making brief appearances to amuse patrons of the restaurant. My favorite was a singing frog. He appeared at the top of the waterfall, and started singing "What a Wonderful World"


Above: The singing frog kept moving his head, lips moving in synch with the words of the song, and would gesture with its hands. Even his individual fingers tapped along with the music. All this while the lights kept changing color. It was a fun surprise. But then, this is Vegas, Baby, YEAH!
-Rick Rockhill