"What a lot of dogs," exclaims one of the thousands passing through the doors of ExCeL London. Well, there's only one reason to blame for those many dogs: Discover Dogs 2015 had arrived!
Although I did not attend the show myself this year, two of my humans were there to report back to me about London's biggest dog event and, from what I've heard, I missed out BIG TIME by not being there. Fortunately, they did take a few pictures (erm, 494...) of the scenes to share with me...
Where better to start your trip to the dog show than the "Discover Dogs" section itself? Over two hundred breeds had a stand at the show, just so we could take photos of them and have many a snuggle.
Discover Dogs aims to raise awareness of what it takes to make a dog happy and healthy so it is always sad to hear from the volunteers at charities such as English Springer Spaniel Welfare who have witnessed cases of animal cruelty. This young Spaniel did not have the best start to his life but has fortunately since been rehomed and is now lot, lot happier- yippee!
Agility. Oh, how I miss agility. My humans decided to reminisce about our agility days by watching it in the Main Ring- but with a twist. Instead of the standard, individual categories, there was a competition between major rescue homes, with relay teams made up of past rescue dogs at each centre. Some of the adorable dogs competing had even featured on Paul O'Grady's "For the Love of Dogs". And look at the smile on that proud human's face!
As readers have probably gathered from the past few years on this blog, my humans love the Southern Golden Retriever Display Team. So, of course, when they checked their programmes to see what was on and noticed that the Goldies were performing, they raced over to the Training & Display Ring to see the group.
They were brilliant- so brilliant that I've included two pictures of the seventy taken from their display!
Following the displays and competitions, my humans returned to the Discover Dogs zone, where they snuggled with yet more dogs (I try not to feel too offended). This lovely Field Spaniel seemed pretty chilled modelling the stunning qualities of his breed. He never left that bed the whole time my humans were there.
Without doubt, the noisiest dog sport of them all, it was time to watch some Flyball. Man, those dogs were showing some speed- almost too quick for the camera!
Those competitors were certainly raring to go.
What is fantastic about dog shows is that there is always something new to see, whether that be a new sport, shop or display. A new demonstration for my humans today was once performed by the Royal Air Force, who demonstrated just how strong their canines have to be to work out on the field. This determined dog managed to jump from the ground to the very top of the blue axle. Incredible.
Another "Discover Dogs" treat: a meet and greet with a gigantic St. Bernard. It's not every day that you come across one of these huge dogs- look at the size of those paws!
Puppy alert! Yep, the Metropolitan Police treated visitors to Discover Dogs to a viewing of the police dogs of the future, these German Shepherds. These puppies certainly have very exciting prospects ahead of them.
Wherever there is a puppy, there is a crowd.
After a spree in the shopping area of the dog show, it was sadly time for my humans to bid Discover Dogs farewell. My humans can honestly say that this year was one of, if not, the best dog shows they have been to in London and cannot wait to find out what is in store for next year's show.
Next stop: Crufts 2016!
Talk soon, Jasper x
