I brought my dog, Scooter to Wondercon. Originally I wasn’t planning on bringing him, but my dog sitter had to back out a few days before the convention and instead of leaving him home alone all day or shelling out the money for a doggy daycare my dad said just bring him along.

I was a bit reluctant to bring him because I knew he wouldn’t be allowed in the exhibition halls or any of the panels. In the end what we ended up doing was finding a place in the convention center lobby to hang out in, and my parents and I just took turns hanging out with him out there as well as taking him for walks outside by the Anaheim Convention Center’s fountain.

While it was a bit of inconvenience having him with me, he was probably one of the best things I’ve ever brought to a convention. I once saw something online that said people who have dogs with them tend to be less introverted and more sociable. I think the reason for this is that dog’s make great ice breakers and excuses for talking to people. All throughout the day we kept getting approached by people telling us how cute he was or asking to take pictures of him or just to pet him. I also felt having him with me gave me a bit of a confidence boost because I found myself approaching cosplayers that I normally would be reluctant to approach either because they seemed a bit intimidating or standoffish or just seemed too distracted entirely to take the time to take a photo. On top of that having a cute dog with me was a great way of boosting both mine and his social media followings. Not only did we acquire more followers by trading IG handles throughout the day we also got a some extra exposure by people who were tagging him in their own photos or were sharing the photos I posted of him online.

Going forward, while I would love to bring him to more events, but it’s just a matter of finding things that are dog-friendly. While Scooter is fairly well-behaved, he is however still a bit stubborn and there are a lot of things that can set him off. For some reason he really doesn’t like horses and at one point a kid in a Deadpool costume wearing a unicorn pool float walked passed us and Scooter lunged at him.

Anyway check out my dog, Scooter with some of the cosplayers of Wondercon 2022. Also if you’re interested in seeing more of him, check out his Instagram at @scooterthesupercorgi.