Paws In The Park!!

Paws in the Park is an annual event held by one of our local Councils, Camden Council, we hadn’t been to this event before and I’m so glad we went this year. I spotted the article in the local newspaper and mentioned it to Dean and we decided to give it a go.

I’ll admit I was apprehensive about how Billy would go being in close proximity to many, many, many other dogs, don’t get me wrong he’s fine when we go on walks but that’s just passing 1-2 dogs here and there, this was going to be his test.

Billy gets a tad frustrated for the first minute of his walk, he squeals and he’s excited and frustrated all that the same time because he just wants to run free, he doesn’t want to be on the end of the lead. This is when we run and take his attention off his frustration and he soon gets into the walk zone (ears back and bum wiggling). So when we got to the park and had to stop and wait until the 3km walk started at 9am this is how he started to carry on. I didn’t react to his behaviour I remained calm and we ran him around the back of the park and kept his attention busy until the walk started.

Well as soon as it did start Billy got into his walk zone and he was in his element, we guessed on the walk there would’ve been at least 300 dogs (of all shapes and sizes) and he didn’t care at all, he walked and a bit of sniffing was had but as long as he was walking he was happy and I was happy, we were all happy!!! It was so good to see so many dogs all in the one place and not one of them showing aggression. The organisers planned it well by starting with the 3km walk. Oh and the most important thing is they gave out doggy pooh bags before the walk started, because when you’ve got to go you’ve got to go and some of the fur kids had to go!!!!

It took around 45mins to an hour roughly by the time all the dogs finished the walk, then it was time to hit the Doggy Stalls, this was my turn to get excited!!!!

In my estimation there would’ve been around 20-30 stalls all catering to dogs (oh and a few to kids as well, like a jumping castle, colouring in and painting etc) but most were for the dogs, well their humans to buy things for their fur kid/s!!!

There were doggy rescue stalls for fundraising, free vet health checks, shows bags for gold coin donations, clothes of all designs, ties, scarves, bow ties, jackets & socks, beds & blankets, pet food, bones, chews, toys, bowls, pet photography, a therapy pet stall, memory pet stalls, pendants, earrings, dog candles, soaps, dog shampoo’s and conditioners, dog collar’s and leads, pet behaviour and training, mobile dog grooming, hair care and health care for dogs, and a few stalls dedicated purely to the home made dog treats. THEY HAD SO MUCH!!! Oh and The Voice chair was there too, so of course Billy and I had to indulge lol!!!

With the Home Made Pet Treats they had doughnuts, pup cakes, birthday cakes, every flavour you can think of in the shape of dog bones, treats on a stick, you name it they had it and it was very well presented also.

As if that wasn’t enough, they also had Agility dogs doing their thing, a fly ball contest as well as best dressed, tallest dog, biggest dog, best dog trick and doggy dancing competitions……..I said to Dean it was like the Easter Show just for Dogs!!!!!

Billy came away with 6 different types of treats to try, a few show bags, a warm scarf now we’re entering into winter, in the show bags were a frisbee and ball, sample dog foods and a whole lot of other goodies, I also got myself the I LOVE MY STAFFIE t-shirt!!!!

While I was busy shopping Dean would take Billy in and out of the paddock where the stalls were because again he wasn’t fussed on the stop starting, he started his frustrated high pitched whining!!! So Dean kept him busy going back and forth and all around.

I was impressed by the day and how well it ran, it went from 9am to 1pm and while we left early because we were done, we had a fantastic day, it’s great for anyone with fur kid/s and for families and it’s just an all round fun day that gets your fur kid/s involved.