Jacob Kepler/viewNancy Murphy-Rogers gives some love to her dog Sammy. Murphy-Rogers helped organize the Happy Paws and Friends Pet Spectacular, set for Friday and Saturday at Cashman Event Center, 850 Las Vegas Blvd. North.
Advertisement
Las Vegas resident Nancy Murphy-Rogers just recently became an avid pet lover, and on Feb. 1-2, she plans on spreading her joy for animals to the rest of the valley. That's when she will debut the Happy Paws and Friends Pet Spectacular at Cashman Event Center, 850 Las Vegas Blvd., North.
The evolution of the event flowed straight from Murphy-Rogers' motto, "Let it happen, don't make it happen."
"I'm tackling something I've never done before," she said. "I'm doing it step by step ... I surrounded myself with people who are experts in their field. I took baby steps."
A former high school English teacher of 20 years and a part-time instructor at Pennsylvania State University, Murphy-Rogers moved to Las Vegas 21/2 years ago. Once settled here, she fell in love with her new dog, a little Siberian Husky with striking blue eyes she named Frankie after Frank Sinatra. She now has one other dog, a mutt named Sammy, and hopes to have her very own Rat Pack one day.
During the expo, Murphy-Rogers hopes to accomplish a number of goals, the first one being to raise money for local animal organizations.
According to Murphy-Rogers, every dollar made from ticket sales will be donated to such groups as Adopt-a-Pet Rescue, Noah's Animal House, Best Friends Animal Society, the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Clark County School District Teachers' Association Scholarship Fund, the Clark County Fire and Rescue Memorial Fund and the Metropolitan Police K-9 Fund.
Another intended goal, Murphy-Rogers said, is to promote responsible pet care. And because the Happy Paws and Friends Pet Spectacular is designed as an event for the whole family, programs will start with the children.
The event will feature a taletelling den with celebrities who will read to kids about animals. In addition, two local veterinarians will address visitors in English and Spanish in order to boost the reach of their pet care message. One of the most important topics to be addressed, Murphy-Rogers said, is that of spaying and neutering pets.
"Nevada SPCA believes that education outreach is critical to effectively addressing our community's very severe animal overpopulation crisis," said Doug Duke, executive director of the NSPCA. "As with spay/neuter efforts and animal adoption programs focused on lifetime commitments, humane education is one of the most important avenues to a solution for the crisis."
Wandering further along the aisles, visitors will discover more than 150 vendors, featuring exhibits and products that include the latest and greatest in pet food, clothing, accessories, toys, etc.
Other exhibits aimed to draw attention, offer entertainment and provide a lesson or two are a planned snake exhibit, a visit from a horse and performances by a high school marching band, a Tom Jones impersonator and Vocal Motion -- a group of young choir members who will sing as they stroll up and down the aisles of the expo.
Not to be outdone by their owners, animals will get into the action during a scheduled fashion show, where both owners and their dogs will be dressed to the nines.
"(When people leave) I really want them to feel like they were at a real event," said Murphy-Rogers. "When people leave, they will say 'Wow! We had some fun!' "
As for the NSPCA's involvement in the event, Duke said, "expos and other events do help us reach new audiences and challenge new people to regard animals as individuals. We have to be cautious that participation is limited to those events, like Happy Paws, which are not explicitly or implicitly supporting animal breeding.
"We were contacted months ago as the event was coming together. I am told our staff helped the organizers with various issues, such as the breeding issue, to ensure the event truly promoted humane education and did not get hijacked into becoming a pro-breeding event," Duke said.
The NSPCA is scheduled to operate at least one humane education booth, where it will have ambassadors or sanctuary animals as guests, but those animals will not be available for adoption. Instead, they will be there to help teach people about their species, their care and their needs.
"For example," Duke said, "by having rabbit ambassadors there with the staff and volunteers, we can show people how to correctly lift and hold them, show visitors proper and safe housing and feeding, and more."
Archived Editions| Advertising | Contact The Staff
