Dannevirke A&P show going to the dogs

Dogs of all shapes and sizes will take over the Dannevirke A & P Showgrounds at the weekend when the Ruahine Kennel Association hosts its Dog Dayz show.

It's an annual event that attracts dog owners from throughout New Zealand.

Ruahine Kennel Association president Tim Delaney says it's a busy time for owners of pedigree dogs as there are shows just about every weekend.

The show is run over the two days with judging commencing at 9am on both days.

A total of 415 entries have been received for Saturday's show and 366 for Sunday's.

The seven classes are made up of toys, terriers, gun dogs, hounds, working dogs, utility dogs and non-sporting breeds.

Most popular class is the gun dogs with 81 entered on Saturday and 82 on Sunday.

Some lesser known breeds that will be represented will be affenpinschers, bracco italianos, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, a basset fauve de bretagne, a bouvier des flandres, a German spitz and schipperke.

Of the five show judges Margaret Joyce, Barbara Doyle and Gary Withers are from Australia while Geraldine Gulbransen is from Palmerston North and Cathy Garvey-Webb is from Levin.

Delaney says the shows are open to the public free of charge.

"We try to be a community-friendly dog club and like to have members of the public come along. But people need to be sensible and not let their children run around."

While entries are in the hundreds, Delaney says they are slightly down on past years.

"Entries have been down at most clubs. We don't know why this is, it could be anything or it could be a number of things combined."

The Ruahine Kennel Association was formed 125 years and is one of the oldest dog clubs in New Zealand. Hosting shows such as Dog Dayz is a massive undertaking for any club with planning started a year out from an event.