Owners strut their pets at annual expo
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
There were pets that weren't dogs yesterday afternoon at the 13th annual Hawai'i Pet Expo at the Blaisdell Center.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Six-year-old Tori Keliiaa brought her Holland lop rabbit, Mele, and sat at an exhibition table, alternately brushing her own long hair and then her pet's. The Kane'ohe girl wore rabbit ears made of construction paper, turned upside-down in lop-eared solidarity.
A chow named China placidly surveys the activity around him at the Hawai'i Pet Expo in the Neal Blaisdell Center exhibition hall. People are welcome to bring their pets to the annual exhibition where new lines of products can be sampled.
Miho and Toshi Otake of Honolulu brought 3-year-old Biscuit, a Shih Tzu, to the Pet Expo yesterday. Cats, rabbits and birds were among the menagerie of pets accompanying their owners to the free event, which continues today.
Mark VonWronski of Palama brought his 5-week-old kitten, Boo, a stray found abandoned at a warehouse. As VonWronski held him, Boo cuddled against his owner's chest and peeked through his fingers.
"He goes everywhere with me," VonWronski said. "Well, except for church."
Rabbits and a few birds aside, what Boo saw through VonWronski's fingers were mostly dogs. Hundreds of them.
They came in every size, breed, color, and fur length and style. Some wore rhinestone-studded collars, doggy necklaces, bows, hats or kerchiefs. A few came au naturel. They competed in shows, snacked on lasagna-
flavored cookies, posed for portrait painters, let their nails be clipped and, invariably, sniffed each other.
Nancy Gills' large, black, curly-haired, web-footed Allie Portuguese water dog wore a purple lei and sprawled on the floor, yawning and rolling his eyes until Gills got the hint to take him home.
"Perfect breed for living on a boat," said Gills, who does just that. "A nonshedding, swimming dog."
Ursula Yee of Kane'ohe said her 142-pound black Newfoundland, LeRoy, also enjoys swimming. Newfoundlands are gentle and social, she said, and are sometimes used for water rescues.
LeRoy isn't a rescue dog. He works as a stud.
• The Hawai'i Pet Expo, sponsored by the Hawai'i Veterinary Medical Association, continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Admission is free. A cat show will be held at 11:30 a.m.
"He likes that the best," Yee said.
Keep trottin'
Chris Klutz-Simanu's tall, gray Irish wolfhound, Pele, also comes from a line of working dogs.
"They were bred to chase down and kill wolves in Ireland," Klutz-Simanu said. The Kane'ohe dog owner stood, straight-faced, next to his 33-inch-tall, 140-pound pet and waited for the usual sucker question.
Are there wolves in Ireland?
"Not anymore."
