Lisa and I were lucky enough to travel together to the Global Pet Expo in San Diego, which she covers in this issue. It's mind-blowing to see such a huge trade-only event with about 1000 stands and 12,500 people roaming a venue the size of eleven football fields, but it was great to meet up with so many Australian pet industry professionals there, including several of our advertisers.

Not only did we view how much the pet industry is growing, we also visited a number of pet stores throughout the US to see the evolution of pet retail from LA to Phoenix, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Austin. Contrast this with my trip to Bora Bora in Tahiti where there are 8000 people and more than 4000 dogs! You'd be hard pressed to find a pet shop on that island and there are only one or two vets. Dogs everywhere, especially at night around the roads, most with crooked tails, many limping and hardly a 'designer dog' among them-they all looked like they were from the same clan. And of course, most had been abandoned after the puppy phase and were having to fend for themselves, so none looked overfed.

Our pets don't know how lucky they are and sometimes I don't think we realise our fortune at having such a great variety of pets, products and services as well as top quality vet care on top of grooming and boarding facilities. Add to that a great local government that has the vision and courage to open up more leash-free areas as well as a state government that is tackling many tough issues regarding companion animals and you'd agree we truly live in the Lucky Pet Country.

We sometimes get criticised by animal rights activists that we don't help them out in spreading their party line about banning the sale of pets, saving the bears, freeing the chooks and liberating lambs, much less fighting Japan over whales and tackling the elephant issues. Well, our magazine was created to celebrate pet lifestyle, entertain, inform and educate without preaching or using shock tactics and keeping the content light, tight and bright without gory photos and horrific stories. We leave those for social issue magazines, tabloid TV and shock-jock radio show, of which there are many.

We must be doing something right because we've grown steadily, attracted more advertisers, run out of copies sooner and increased the number of subscribers greatly. Last year's May-August issue was 36 pages, this one is 52. The same issue last year had 40 ads, this one well over 60. Our website traffic has exploded. We still print 40,000 copies and have never varied from our ethical advertising and editorial policies, which you can see on the other page.

In that same time, three other pet mags rolled over and died-Bark Australia, Adore Animals and most recently, the newsstand title Doggy Deals passed after six issues-while no new ones have sprung up. We pioneered free pet press in Australia and proudly lead the pack. But what counts the most is you, our readers. Thanks for loving us!

Phil Tripp
Urban Animal Publisher

Brought to you by the letter 'D' and the numeral 2.

At a prominent place on our front entrance is a sticker meant to alert emergency personnel that there are pets inside. The sticker has been at eye level for a number of years now. Marked clearly is a tick and the numeral 2 in both the dog and bird boxes with the lettering 'Please Save Our Pets'.

I see this sticker every morning on my return from my dog-walking activities. For six months it bothered me because Jerri was no longer with us. We had become a one-dog house and seeing the numeral 2 made me realise that in the unlikely event that our place would be going up in flames, a team of firefighters would see this sign, crash their way through the burning building, grab the birdie boys and liberate Lilly. But those firefighting heroes would be stumbling around my house looking for a dog that was no longer with us. I couldn't bear the thought of someone being injured in a desperate and fruitless search for a dog that remained very real in my thoughts but was no longer on this Earth.

Being a two-dog household just feels right to me. So it wasn't a huge emotional decision to get a puppy. What did take time was sourcing the right breeder and from there waiting it out until a litter was produced and the right puppy came into our home. Scooter has been an absolute joy right from the start. With his distinctive black eye patch and his sweet nature it's been relatively easy bringing up the pup.

The most asked question I've had from people who know us personally or through the magazine has been "How's Lilly getting on with him?" And the answer is, perfectly fine; in fact, better than fine, she loves him. They play endless games of tug, lounge around together and share toys and treats. Lilly's not too far removed from being a puppy herself, so she's tirelessly devoted herself to entertaining Scooter.

The second most asked question comes from people who don't know us at all and it's always about Scooter. "What's he crossed with?" or "Is he full Dalmatian?" and the other pearler is, "Did you get him cheap because he's a dud?" It's understandable really as he's a little unusual looking. These questions aren't offensive to me, they're more annoying, like a stone in your shoe. It's annoying like the people who insist on the incorrect spelling of DalmatiOn. Just because you can Google DalmatiOn does not make it the correct spelling, nor are there two ways of spelling Dalmatian. There's only one correct way and there's never an O in there.

Pet peeves aside, it really is lovely being back to a two-dog household. Puppies are loads of work but they're really lovely to have around and even the bleakest of days are made brighter by a wriggly, wormy pup. I'm enjoying having two dogs to greet me, two dogs watching me in the kitchen, two sets of walks in the morning and two sets of leads and collars at the door. And I'm also happy to see that emergency sticker with two sets of the numeral 2.

Lisa Treen
Urban Animal Editor