I came, I talked, I learned. And I was inspired.

For those who missed BlogPaws, the first pet blogger’s conference, I’m happy to report it was a huge success. I don’t have all the stats about how many attended — a big ballroomful, for sure — or how much money was raised for pet charities — lots! — but I can attest that the spirit of the pet community is huge.

The social buzz

I met some of my favorite bloggers in person for the first time: Eric Goebelbecker of Dog Spelled Forward; Roxanne Hawn of Champion of My Heart,  Deborah Flick of Boulder Dog… There were many, many others, but I spent the farewell event drinking and shmoozing with those three, so can attest that they’re fun to hang out with as well as being terrific bloggers.

I also met the wonderful Mary-Alice Pomputius of DogJaunt, with whom I am sponsoring a SleepyPod giveaway contest — there’s still time to enter! — and her dog, Chloe, who is even more adorable in person than in her picture.

Chloe, the BlogPaws love machine

Chloe is a love machine, the unofficial greeter of the conference, conferring doggy kisses on all who came her way. (Yes, Frankie, it’s true, I kissed another dog. It was a conference and I couldn’t help myself; I missed you so much. I’d intended what happened in Columbus to stay in Columbus but since I came home wearing the same black jeans I wore throughout the entire conference, I knew you’d sniff me out anyway.)

I also reconnected with old friends from my travel writing past,  Paris Permenter and John Bigley who created the stellar DogTipper site.

And I met Esther Chen of PeoplePets.com at check in.  Although I am a great admirer of her publication and an avid reader of her e-newsletter, I didn’t think that was an appropriate time to tell her that I thought Frankie’s adorable book trailer (it’s on the right of this post) needed to be up on the PeoplePets website. If you’re reading this, Esther, I hope you’ll realize the restraint I showed and consider this less invasive but oh-so-heartfelt request.

The pet blogging biz

I still have too much material from all the sessions I attended to process, so I’ll just focus on one in which I participated, on book publishing. I had to defend the honor of funny dogs from Sparkle the Designer Cat, whose spokesperson, Janiss Garza, claimed that cats are the more amusing species. The defense was a no brainer. All I had to do was show the aforementioned book trailer, which demonstrates just what a card — not to mention world traveler — Frankie is.  Incidentally, Sparkle, although you’re correct that there are more pet cats in households than pet dogs, dog owners spend more money on their charges because we, well, love them more. And that’s because they’re more lovable.

Also on the panel, Penny Sansevieri, creator of the Author Marketing Experts Inc, and author of Red Hot Internet Publicity, spoke on a topic that I’m very interested in checking into: the advantages of self-publishing. The fact that she also liked Am I Boring My Dog, which she’d gotten as a gift for Christmas — talk about serendipity! — only endeared her to me further. Clinching her status as one of the people I was happiest to meet at BlogPaws: She was at the ever-shifting table of revelers at the final event and lots of fun to hang out with.

The spirit of giving

There’s much much more, including the great swag that I plan to put together in a gift basket for a silent auction to benefit the Humane Society of Southern Arizona; I’ll be taking a picture and thanking all the donors individually. But I need to unpack and give my undivided attention to Frankie, so I’ll end with a big thanks to BlogPaws organizers Yvonne DiVita, Tom Collins, and Caroline Golon, who put together an amazing event, and with the video that captures its spirit, created by Lynn Haigh, a.k.a.  Frugal Dougal, CDO of #pawpawty events, which help animal charities around the world.

18 thoughts on “BlogPaws, the (Partial) Poop”

  1. I don’t know about you, but as much as I looked forward to this, it seriously exceeded my expectations. For the first year of the event they nailed it.

    2011 should be huge, and I can’t wait to go!

    1. I couldn’t agree more…they did such a wonderful job on the first BlogPaws! It was great to meet you all. I’d love it if it came to Denver next year!
      ~Monica

  2. Awesome video.

    There are not many things out there that I REALLY REALLY wish I would have attended, however the good energy that is coming from the early posts about BlogPaws gives me the feeling I missed something I would have enjoyed immensely. The people and the knowledge sound nothing short of amazing.

    Keep on bloggin. Dogs and blogs, two of my big passions.

    1. Rumor has it that BlogPaws will be out west next year so maybe you’ll be able to attend. Speaking of which, I will be in your fair city in June, giving a booksigning at the Hotel Indigo, so stay tuned for details and come on by!

      I need to find out who put together that wonderful video. In my haste to post it, I didn’t give credit where it was due. Stay tuned for that too!

  3. Hi Edie,
    Sorry, but I STILL have to disagree with you – cats are just as, if not more, lovable than dogs. I know this for a fact, because my human loves me and every other cat she’s ever had in her life WAY more than any dog she’s lived with. I guess there are just cat-centric humans, and dog-centric ones.

    BTW, my human enjoyed being on the panel with you!

    1. Well, Sparkle, we’ll just have to agree to disagree, as cats and dogs and their humans always do (though I do know interspecies families that claim to love both equally). I enjoyed being on the panel with your human, too!

  4. This is such a fun post — it made me laugh and brought back all the good vibes of the weekend. Thank you, and thanks so much for the Chloe love! She had an outstanding time — and I loved being there with her. It’s so much easier to introduce yourself to a stranger when your dog is covering them with kisses!

    1. You’re very welcome. Walter claims that you don’t let him go to the park with Chloe on his own (he was kidding, wasn’t he?) and I can see why — that dog is a chick magnet!

  5. I’m really sorry I had to give BlogPaws a miss this year – everyone is saying what a wonderful time they had and what a great community we are involved with. It sounds like there were a lot of exciting ideas that came from the presentations, too. Thanks for sharing! And has Frankie forgiven you yet – maybe some of the swag will assuage his vexation?

    1. Yeah, the only thing missing was…you! But shhhh re: Frankie and the swag: I’m going to donate all the dog-related stuff to the silent auction for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona and the (limited amount of) cat stuff to a friend who has three cats…

  6. That is so cool you got to meet Flick! I love her blog almost as much as yours. (I said almost! lol) She is the one who first pointed out (for me) that the whole dominance thing is BS. I mean I suspected it, but it took a really informative post by her to give me the idea that it wasn’t just me. Glad you had a good time!

    1. Thank you for that “almost”; I would forgive you nearly (almost like almost) anything because you sent me those tomatoes but you know how fragile a writer’s ego can be. As it happens, I’ve been thinking about you: I’m about to post a “top ten of my first year,” and it includes the post that inspired you to send those tomatoes.

    1. You’re very welcome. I appreciate the shout out on your blog too, as well as the solidarity on so many things, including the supremacy of dogs.

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