With well-groomed coats, practised movement and wagging tails, more than 400 pure-breed dogs, with their owners and handlers, will descend on Dannevirke for the annual Ruahine Kennel Association's All Breeds Show this coming weekend.
"Entries are down just a bit, probably because the nationals were held this year in the South Island just two weeks before ours and the effort and cost of entering those shows - and getting to and from Christchurch - might have made things a bit stressful for both dogs and handlers from the North Island, where most of our entries come from," RKA president Tim Delaney said.
"We have three very experienced judges - two from Australia, and one from New Zealand - and we love the opportunity to give them and our more than 300 exhibitors a taste of Dannevirke hospitality."
The Dannevirke show is known as the happy show, because, Mr Delaney said, organisers try to run things in a relaxed, friendly and stress-free way.
"We've also been holding a very popular Kidz 'n K9s event for the past few years," he said.