Top Tips for conquering Pet Expo 2018 – Singapore’s Largest Fair for Pet Lovers

Pet Expo 2018 is coming again! The upcoming Pet Expo opens its doors to visitors 06-08 April, Singapore Expo Hall 7, 11am – 8 pm daily.

For the new dog owner whom this may be unfamiliar, the Pet Expo is an annual pet fair and Singapore’s largest according to the Pet Expo site here. Typically, the fair comprises a mix of:

1. Dog show, obedience competition and grooming competition organised by the SKC (Singapore Kennel Club)
2. Entertaining games and demonstrations
3. Educational talks and sharing
4. Puppies for adoption
5. Sale of pet merchandise
6. And did I mention, you can bring your dog along even thought it’s indoor? :P It’s probably one of the few air-conditioned event venues you can bring your dog to in the year!

My top tips for conquering Pet Expo 2018!! LOL :P

1. Looking for some entertainment? Plan your visit using the programme guide!
   If activities outside of retail therapy is what you’re interested in, you need to look at the programme guide so you can plan to be there when most of the activities that interest you are happening!
2. If retail therapy is exactly your thing, and you are going there looking for discounts, plan and do your research well in advance! 
   Check out the exhibitor list when it’s available so you don’t make a wasted trip. Check out the floor plan so you will not miss the booth you are looking for because of the overwhelming crowd. That happened to me. #truestoryDid I succumb to pressure from seemingly cheap deals before? Yes, I did. Only to realise after I got home and googled that the dog food I bought is actually food I wouldn’t have bought with or without a discount. HAH!

   How do I choose my dog food nowadays? Check out my thoughts here on dry food, dehydrated food and freeze-dried food.

3. Follow your favourite merchants on their social media to get first hand news of their offers/activities at Pet Expo (I’m sure you’re already doing this anyway. Here’s a pre-Pet Expo 2018 activity that’s occurring before the actual event!
   1. $100 Loyal.D hamper giveaway (closing date 2 April 2018)
4. Jio your friends to go!
   For a lot of people, going to the Pet Expo is a social event. You bring your dog, you meet up and you mingle. And if you are going shopping for dog, it really helps to have an extra pair of hands to tend to the dogs!
   

   Cookie’s mom helping to keep an eye on Donna while I went to the food tent to get human food at a different event :P

If you’re interested, read about our previous experiences at Pet Expo below! :)

— The post below is published 27 March 2017 —

I thought I would do a rundown of the Pet Expo event in Singapore from 2014 to date starting from most recent. As I was typing this, I realised even though I missed attending it in 2016, the Pet Expo pretty much shaped some of my thoughts and interests as a new, not so savvy dog owner in the earlier years when I did attend! :P

So here goes!

2017 – Pet Expo

Pet Expo 2017 News from erm, everywhere, including Mutt Vlog! LOL
Watch the video on Youtube

• Pet Expo haul video – Sheena Chan
• Photos on Instagram #petexposg | #petexposg2017
• Pet Expo Day 1 – J the Alaskan Klee Kai
• Paw Stars at Pet Expo this weekend – The Straits Times

2017 – Pet Expo Media Event

Donna and I were invited to their media event at Canopy recently. Check out snippets of the event in our video here!

Watch the video on Youtube

2016 – Pet Expo

More than 10,000 people and 5,000 pets visited the Pet Expo on the first day of the event. This was a record, according to the Straits Times.

I think this was also the year when friends I know started to evaluate their purchases there more closely. Was what they were buying at the Pet Expo value for money, if you were to count in the entrance fee as part of the cost? The free health talks that I attended in 2015 were also ticketed in 2016.

2015 – Pet Expo

This was the second year I would attend the Pet Expo. If you know me well-enough, you’ll know I’m pretty goal-oriented. Per my modus operandi, I surveyed the Pet Expo program and decided the day and time based on the session I would most like to attend. This time round, it was a health talk on allergies.

There was a series of health talks that were free to public at the Pet Expo in 2015. Donna and I came late but were lucky the talk started late too!! :P The talk we were attending was on pet allergies by Dr Simon Quek of the Mount Pleasant vet group.

It was a really great talk that introduced me to the different allergy tests and Dr Quek was very candid about how most of them weren’t very accurate. You can read my original post on what I learnt on allergies through my conversations with Dr Quek and also Dr Joanna Paul from Australia here on my post – How to test if your dog is allergic to chicken and other food.

Dr Quek speaking about his topic of choice – pet allergies at the Singapore Pet Expo in 2015

I think it was also in 2015 if I’m not wrong, the Singapore Specials Club decided to have a largest Singapore Specials meet up at the Pet Expo. I was sad to miss that since it was on a different day.

2014 – Pet Expo

By the time Pet Expo 2014 rolled around, we had Donna with us for slightly more than a year already. She had become pretty good being off-leash, and I was feeling confident and decided to bring her to get a taste of doggy agility at the workshop at the Pet Expo.

This was the main reason we went to the Pet Expo that year. I have always found crowds overwhelming, and as someone new to the scene, I didn’t really know what to look out for. So we didn’t really check out the stalls much. :P You can read more about Donna’s experience on my blog post – Our first dog agility experience!

Donna jump, jump, jump at Pet Expo 2014

I must say it was interesting for me to revisit those feelings and thoughts 3 years after writing them. #whyiblog ;)

And like I said at the start of the post, attending various events at the Pet Expo contributed to the shaping some of my thoughts and interests as a new, not so savvy dog owner in the earlier years when I did attend! :P

Hello, chit chat!

So that’s my round-up of Pet Expo through the years. Are you planning to visit the Pet Expo this year? Let me know what you are keen to check out there and the activities that most interest you this year OR in previous years in the comments below or on Facebook! ;)

Related links mentioned in the video: – 8 dog-friendly cafes in Ang Mo Kio – 10 most popular Singapore dog on Instagram – Singapore dog events calendar – How to test if yur dog is allergic to chicken and other food

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