A few months ago we were approached by the lovely people behind All About Dogs Shows; a series of events created by dog lovers for dog lovers, taking place across the UK over the coming months. We were invited to join them to blog all about it (and guess what, we even judged one of the dog shows!!) A day surrounded by lots of dogs and their owners, fun activities, charities and shopping, what more could you want on a Saturday!?! Join us today as we tell you all about it and if you missed out on this one, why you should be getting excited for their other ones during the year…

ACTIVITIES GALORE!

Being April we were treated to a few April Showers, but did that dampen the spirits of everyone?? Absolutely not! It takes a lot for dog lovers to be deterred by a bit of wet weather, doesn’t it? For those wanting to go the whole hog & get soaked even more (!!) the K9 Aqua Sports pool was the place to be! Dogs seemed to absolutely love throwing themselves in the portable pool, all for the love of a tennis ball!

Some were more keen than others though and needed a bit of direction…

While on the lookout for the next activity, there were so many adorable faces it was hard to know which direction to look in!!

The next activity we found was the incredible Flyball! If you haven’t seen it before it’s fast, loud and really exciting! Two teams of dogs are pitted against each other to run and jump over a short path of hurdles, release a tennis ball by triggering a pedal and then returning with the ball so the next dog can go! The team with all dogs across the line, wins! You can see some happy faces below showing just how it should be done!

For those bringing their own dog and wanting to try something new, there was even an opportunity to try Flyball as well as dog agility and other challenges, where dogs and their owners were put through their paces! Activities included going through a tunnel and even the dreaded seesaw! It was a great to see the bond between dogs and their humans as they tried something new.

FUN DOG SHOWS (& A BIT OF GUEST JUDGING!)

The highlight of the day for me personally were definitely the fun dog shows (not least because I helped judge one of the classes) but because it was lovely to observe the bond between so many people and their dogs. The pride people have in their dogs was clear to see, whether they won or not. It was a real privilege to watch and be a part of. Judging is certainly harder than it seems when you have so many gorgeous faces peering at you! With around 25 dogs to choose from, a top 5 were selected but the ultimate winner just had to be Humphrey the boxer! Could you resist this face?!?

Here are the fabulous faces who made up the top 5! So gorgeous!!

There were many others though which also really made an impression during the judging process and while we can’t include all of them, some of these below made it even harder to select a winner…

SHOPPING!!

What’s the perfect way to round off any day?? Shopping of course and thankfully there were a number of great stockists and charities to visit (plus many were kind enough to allow people to shelter when the rain decided to pay a visit!) We stopped by our lovely and talented friends Broughton & Co as well as others such as Equafleece and Scotts of London. We also delved into the interesting topic of dog DNA testing with Sarah from Black Dog DNA as well as speaking to the creators of Bauwow; an exciting new app focused on your dog! There was also a great representation of charities including many of our friends such as Notts & Yorkshire Boxer Rescue, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Dogs Trust to name but a few. Finally we also met a talented pet portrait artist called Hannah Johnson and you can see one of her incredible portraits below. Check her out!

A FABULOUS DAY OUT!

Well what a fabulous day!! If you don’t want to miss out on the next ones over the next few months, check out the All About Dogs Show website HERE for all the details! You and your dog will LOVE it!! In the meantime, I wanted to end with a few more photos of some gorgeous dogs and their owners. The bond between dog and human is a special one and clear to see when you attend events like this. A huge THANK YOU to All About Dogs Show for inviting us and along with the wonderful Notts & Yorkshire Boxer Rescue, for being supportive during my judging duties! Such a fun experience and a truly brilliant day…