Our attendance at the GSD Natl

[Olesia711]

Epi4Dogs attendance at the GSD Nationals in Springfield Illinois Oct 26-28th was well worth it! I am so glad we were invited to attend. Many thanks to Lynn Goswick and the Board of the GSD Nationals for inviting us and giving us such great exposure. So many GSD owners stopped by our table. Many of the GSD owners were actually excited to meet us because they knew of us! We heard a lot of “you saved my dog’s life”. There was a very strong interest in learning about EPI or learning the latest about EPI. There were many questions about symptoms, treatments and research. We distributed a lot of EPI Brochures and the EPI Management handout. Quite a few had personal experience with an EPI dog and others either thought their dog might have EPI or knew of someone else whose dog sounded like they might have EPI. Needless to say, our information was very well received, and I think we really made an impact with bringing better awareness to EPI .

The following are some pictures (UGH... pictures did not upload in correct order- -but i hope you can still figure them out) …. the 1st pic is (L to R) Diane Sloan/Enzyme Diane, Lynn Goswick/GSD Natl, Olesia Kennedy/Epi4Dogs. The 2nd picture is Olesia /Epi4Dogs, Diane /Enzyme Diane, Thais Fontenelle/ Univ of GA (intern geneticist), Dr. Leigh Anne Clark/Univ of GA (geneticists). The 3rd pic is of "Stig" an 8yr old EPI dog, owned by Meghan McLaughlin who was one of the winners in the veteran category... because as we say...an EPI dog can do anything any other dog can do !!! The 4th pic is of the coliseum where the event was held. And the 5th picture is a random shot of one of the events. We were later joined by Dr. Patrick Barko/Univ of Illinois (small animal & gastroenterology) and we were having such a lively conversation that i completely forgot to take his pic... i promise to do better next time

GSD Natl 4 attendees.jpg (417.01 KiB) Viewed 2018 times

GSD Natl EPI veteren winner.jpg (3.39 MiB) Viewed 2018 times

GSD bldg.jpg (279.89 KiB) Viewed 2018 times

GSD NAtl -event2.jpg (1.74 MiB) Viewed 2018 times

[jilbert57]

Thank you for the update Olesia. Sounds like a good trip and you all spread the word and met some new folks. Your booth looks fantastic.

Jill

[Tuckaboo Pam]

I am honestly tearing up, thinking of how many dogs' lives you have saved, including Tucker's.

While we did finally find a vet with EPI experience, back in 2019, I'm not sure we could have kept up the expense of prescription enzymes...I shudder to think of the potential decisions we would have had to make, if not for this group. Not just the expense of the enzymes, but also the tweaking. The tweaking that could have meant a trip to the vet, every time I made an inquiry here on the forum. "Try this, try that", until we got him settled, and at no charge at all.

My $80 shepherd mix could have had a much shorter life, if I hadn't had Epi4Dogs at my fingertips. You all have been the best, and I thank you every day.

---Pam & Tucker

[Barb]

Thank you for the report, Olesia. I am so glad you went. It sounds like you made a real impact with lots of information for people to take back to their communities about EPI. And so many beautiful German Shepherds!
Thank you.

Barb