Dozens of dogs leapt over hurdles and hay bales, and raced through tunnels to prove their agility at a show where a doggy contactless card payment system was launched.
A total of 400 dogs and their two-legged friends went to Merton Dog Watch’s Fun Dog Show in Morden on Saturday, where the nuttiest, cutest and oldest pooches were honoured with prizes.
Alex Buree, ten, hugging his dog
The judges for each category were made up of the stallholders that were set up around the show for dog owners to browse.
For the nuttiest dog category, judges were looking for the dog that was the loudest and owners were asked what the craziest thing the dog has done. As a way of making the competition fairer to older dogs, the ‘best veteran dog’ category was for dogs over the age of seven only.
Kathryn Saunders (Blue Cross) with Smudge, her tap dog
For the first time, so-called tech coats were unveiled, which means people can donate money to the Blue Cross by swiping payment cards on in-built contactless card machines.
Smudge was one of the ‘tap dogs’ chosen because of his good temperament to debut the product.
Organiser Andy Butcher said: “It was a fun dog show, we didn’t want to take it too seriously”.
It was held on Saturday, May 21 at King Georges Playing Fields in Morden.
Dog Watch is a neighbourhood watch scheme for dog walkers.
Dog walkers can get involved with community concerns and provide useful information that helps make their local area cleaner and safer. To sign up, email mertondogwatch@met.police.uk
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