If it was even possible, day 2 of Barkworld was even better than Day 1

 

The morning started off with a Doga session. (dog yoga) I, of course, did NOT attend this. No one wants to see this big ole body try to contort into yoga poses. 🙂

 

My morning started off a little later with a “cat breakfast” sponsored by Meowbox. It was so nice getting to know so many cat bloggers. And the swag was awesome, of course!

After such a yummy breakfast, I was ready for a great day.

 

Starting off the day was a presentation by Isabella Masso, the 10 year old owner of Isabella’s Pet Shop. Isabella is a very inspirational little girl. At 8 years old she decided to create and sell bows and accessories for shelter pets to make them more adoptable.  She now sells these bows and bow ties online and donates a portion of the proceeds to help different rescues and organizations.

Following Isabella was a keynote presentation by Katie Caperton, Editor-in-Chief of HLN digital.  Katie shared with us about how social media can influence change. When videos go viral people take notice and changes are made in response to it. It was very enlightening to see how much influence social media can wield.

After some great roundtable discussions, we had a Mexican buffet style lunch.  The view in the room was amazing. The food? Absolutely delicious! And the wait staff? Extremely polite and helpful. Overall lunch was an experience everyone should have at least once in a lifetime. Of course, I hope to repeat it a lot in my lifetime.

 

For the grand finale to my first ever Barkworld experience, I got to hear Shorty Rossi speak.  In my house, Shorty is akin to a superhero! I had to hide the fact that I was going to get to see him at Barkworld or my girls, Emily and Megan, would have stowed away in my luggage! You should have heard the commotion when they found out about it.

 

Shorty is a very passionate speaker and extremely dedicated to the bully breeds. Did you know that out of 600 pitbull type dogs in shelters, only 1 gets adopted?!? That is unthinkable!

I look at my wonderful pitty mix, Thor and feel a little overwhelmed thinking that if I hadn’t taken him that day, he wouldn’t be alive today. These dogs have so much love to give but no one gives them a chance.

One of the many wonderful things that Shorty says is that the dog is a product of its owner.  Shorty also advocates helping animals where you can. If you can’t adopt an animal, you should help out the rescue organizations.

 

I want to thank Denise Quashie and the incredible i5 publishing team at Barkworld once again for being so kind and inviting me. I had such a great time at an event that I would have overlooked otherwise.

Overall, BarkWorld was a great experience that I would love to repeat next year. If you are on the fence about going, go! The people that you will meet are the nicest and friendliest ever.  I felt so welcomed and included the whole time I was there.

 

BarkWorld is a must for anyone involved in the blogging and social media world!