by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

The 24th Annual Pet Industry H.H. Backer Spring Trade Show took place April 18 – April 20, 2012 at the Atlantic City Convention Center and this was my first time attending.  While always wanting to attend, something always came up so I was thrilled to finally make the event this year, and it was well worth my time!  Some veteran attendees may have said they could do the show in one day – but they also knew what pet products they were looking for. I took my time walking the show floor, looked at ton of pet products and took a couple of the seminars – which were really great.  I met so many fantastic people, great new pet products, many of which are Made in the USA (warms my heart) and thought the event was run so smoothly and everyone was super friendly.  Kudos to H.H. Backer, Pet Age Magazine and Royal Pet Supplies! I will definitely be back and am looking forward to the Chicago show too (October 12-14, 2012, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, Chicago, Ill.). You have to love the camaraderie in the pet industry.

Some of the new pet product finds that sparked my interest will be covered in upcoming articles – with some pet product reviews and giveaways too – my dog Max will be putting them through the test! However a nod too many of the products I liked can be found below and some fun pictures of the event too.

Always rooting for the underdog, or in this case a smaller business, on day two I was walking the show floor and spotted the To Go Bowl, their signage showed a picture of it and it said, “fits in your car’s cup holder!” I went back to the booth.  My dog Max has a few of the collapsible or fold-able travel dog bowls which I like, but he doesn’t like drinking out of them.  He doesn’t really like to put his face into them, I know he’s weird.  So I stopped and spoke to the gentleman in the booth and he explained the product, they are a smaller company and it’s made entirely in the USA!  Manufactured and distributed by Furry Travelers, Inc. you can even store some kibble in the cup part of the bowl that screws into the bottom of the bowl.  Ingenious if you ask me.  Max will be testing this out on his next trip in the car to go on a hike.  Product review and giveaway coming up soon!  Thinking this would be a great product for those that like to camp with their pet.

One of the food products that I really liked was the brand new, Spring Naturals pet treats.  Max is already going nuts over them.  They too are made in the USA and all natural ingredients and you can see the blueberries in the actual treat themselves.  I will be buying these again in the future.

Another pet food product is Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners – a couple samples of those were in one of my bags while walking the floor and every dog I stopped to meet was trying to chew through the bag to get to them.  It was quite funny.  Max has been a huge fan of these for a while now.  Oh and yes, Made in USA too!

Then I saw something else that caught my eye, Beer-Bones.  I didn’t know what to think of that, the booth was too crowded the first day, so I went over the next day to find out more.  Basically they dog biscuits are made from brewers wet grains, whole wheat flour, peanut butter and egg.  I never knew you could use the left over brewer’s grains from beer to put into dog bones, but apparently dogs love them.  They are made in USA as well.  They would not be good for dogs with allergies.

After all those food products you are going to need poop bags to bring with you when you walk your dog!  Earth Rated Poop Bags were giving out a lot of biodegradable green poop bags that are lavender scented and are larger than most poop bags, for those bigger breeds too, but fit into standard dispensers.  They also offer poop bags made out of corn so they are 100% compostable and dissolve in only 40 days after use.  These are made in Canada.

Pet Buddies had a pretty big booth and a lot of different pet products, one of those that stood out was the Pooch Super Bouncer Ball.  It bounces like a tennis ball, is heavier and more durable than a tennis ball and has a hole in the center (with openings on both sides) for treats or peanut butter.  It’s also dishwasher safe.  Seems like a cool dog toy – will have to see if Max likes it or not.  Review and product giveaway to come!

There were many other pet products that I liked at the H.H. Backer show, and more pet product reviews and giveaways to come over the next couple of months – so stay tuned!

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