Thousands of dog lovers visited The Kennel Club’s Discover Dogs event in London, meeting and greeting over 150 different breeds.
Returning after a pandemic pause, the two-day event, sponsored by Royal Canin, took place at ExCel London on November 20-21 and gave four-legged friend enthusiasts the opportunity to find the right breed for their lifestyle, speak to experts, learn about different dogs and watch exciting displays and demonstrations of canine activities, like agility or flyball.
Spanning both arena-style programmes in several rings and breed booths, the event saw fast-paced agility finals, heats for the nation’s favourite cross-breed competition Scruffts, doggy relay displays, demonstrations from clever Medical Detection Dogs, West Midlands Police dogs and Staffordshire Bull Terrier and Golden Retriever display teams, and shopping for doggy wares at the trade stands.
There were also demonstrations from dog behaviourists and experts, helping owners to solve pandemic puppy training and socialisation problems, and areas to meet rescue dogs looking for their forever home.
Vanessa McAlpine, events executive at The Kennel Club, said: “We were delighted to bring Discover Dogs back to London. The show made a fantastic comeback with hundreds of dogs, breed booths and experts, and exciting displays. We would like to thank our fantastic and committed breed booth and breed rescue volunteers, our sponsor Royal Canin, trade stand exhibitors, stewards, vets, ring party, commentators, judges, competitors, display teams, our contractors and everyone else who made the event a success.
“Thank you to all the volunteers who came along to promote the breed they love to so many dog lovers and potential owners, helping to make sure that all dogs get a happy home for life and that more people buy from responsible breeders, and make good, well-researched decisions.”
Competitions which took place at Discover Dogs included the ABC Agility semi-finals for medium dogs and large novice dogs, the agility Small/Mixi Pairs finals and the agility Starters Cup finals. The event also saw the rescue dog agility, Scruffts family crossbreed competition, sponsored by James Wellbeloved, and the Young Kennel Club Person of the Year Award ceremony.
Picture credit: Yulia Titovets and The Kennel Club
