‘All having a fantastic time’: Dogs reign supreme at Our Townsville
The dachshund continues its march towards worldwide domination, being by far the most popular dog breed present at the busy ‘Our Townsville’ event on Sunday. PICTURES.
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The dachshund continues its march towards worldwide domination, being by far the most popular dog breed present at the successful Our Townsville event on Sunday.
Swarms of dogs and the people who love them attended the free, council-run event, which is hosted every two years in Anderson Gardens and has evolved into a dog’s perfect day out.
The event included a free go at diving into a swimming pool at the Dock Dogs arena, a pet mardi gras dress up parade, a ‘K9 Superwall’, a barbecue battle grill-off, a Mr and Mrs Pawsville judging competition, and more.
Not only were the dachshunds the most common bred at the event, they were also the only one to get its own event - the 11am dachshund dash race.
The second most common dog was the quiet and unassuming greyhounds, who had their own adoption tent at the festival.
The Scaf family attended the event with their greyhound Fran, who raced as ‘Hold The Onion’.
Now three-years-old, Fran was dressed up for the mardi gras parade by her dotting new owners Kate Scarf and daughter Ruby - and she even posed politely for the Townsville Bulletin.
Yogi the Neapolitan mastiff accompanied his family, including three-year-old Hudson Harper through the crowds around Anderson Gardens.
Yogi’s owner Mark Harper said it was a good experience to get out and about, and also bring the dog so he could enjoy the strange sights as well.
Like normal it seemed the small dogs brought the larger-than-life attitudes while the large dogs were the most well-behaved and quiet on the day.
Friends Sarah Rowe and Georgia Wheelahan brought their four dachshunds to the event to watch the dachshunds dash.
“I was thinking about putting Summer in the dash but I thought I’d watch it and see what its like first,” Ms Rowe said.
“I got Summer four years ago and I fell in love with dachshunds. I love their quirkiness, they are full of sass and so loveable.”
When the dock dogs jumping pool was opened to members of the public, many struggled to convince their dogs to jump - until Justin Wilson was egged to jump by the crowd and cannonballed in, quickly followed by his “big, dumb, loveable” staffy mongrel Vinnie.
Also in attendance was Indiana the British bulldog puppy who’s being taught how to skateboard by her own Sarah Butcher.
“We got her in January and it was raining so much we couldn’t go outside often,” Ms Butcher said.
“We had a skateboard in the house and we were playing around with that, keeping her entertained. Bulldogs are actually well-known for skateboarding because their body mass is so low they can balance really well.”
Ms Butcher said she now takes her skateboarding dog out to The Strand for practice, and people love her.
While the Our Townsville event included a lot of non-dog activities, pet owners dominated the event, taking full advantage of the pet-friendly day.
“I love this event, any chance to bring the dogs out, we do it,” Ms Rowe said.
“It’s great to see so many people here, and they are all having a fantastic time.”
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Originally published as ‘All having a fantastic time’: Dogs reign supreme at Our Townsville
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