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Well the H.H. Backer Spring Trade Show was everything that we hoped it would be, though our trip down to Atlantic City was not. Sorry I didn't get to post to the blog while there, but the hotel didn't have wireless access. In any case, the show was pretty amazing. With over 500 booths, it kept us very busy over the course of two days.

I was somewhat surprised to see that the majority of the booths this year were skewed toward the boutique market. Most booths seemed to be either apparel or beauty products. Relatively few booths had anything really innovative as far as toys went, but the few that did really caught our interest. Here are a couple highlights!

Simply Fido had a whole new line of products. First up was the Knit Organic Stuffed Animals, which were absolutely adorable. So adorable in fact that we had to order some right away. They also had some adorable puppy blankets and some new stuffed lizard which are pretty cute. The entire Simply Fido line is available online and in store now. Here's a sneak peek though...

Another interesting toy that we found was the Chase'N Pull. This toy is basicly what most people would consider to be a cat toy, only beefier, sqeaky and really durable. Would never have believed that a dog would enjoy a wand toy, but this has to be seen to be believed. As I stood in the booth, a couple of small children came running up with their two little terriers in tow. After a few minutes of looking around, they pulled the toy out of it's holder and started playing with one of the dogs. The terrier went nuts! Jumping in the air, scrambling around the booth to catch this squeaky toy on a cord. After watching for a few minutes, I decided I had to at least try it with our dogs, so both Marianne and I bought a few. When I got home, I began my play testing with all of my new goodies, and sure enough, the biggest hit with both of my dogs was the Chase 'N Pull. It even stands up to my boys playing tug with it. I am really impressed. We should have some more in the store next week and they will go online then as well. I'll even try to get some video of the toy in action.

Well, all I can say is that this is only the very tip of the iceberg. You'll be seeing alot of new products both in store and online over the next month or two, so hold onto your leashes and keep an eye on this blog. I'll be posting product spotlights as often as possible as the new goodies start to arrive.