Celebrating dogs, wildlife and the countryside – we had a wonderful day! Festival sponsors I-Mac Fire & Security sponsored the Festival to highlight just how good dogs are for people’s health and well-being, whilst the Festival also served to introduce new dog-friendly countryside Canford Park SANG to many more people.
Meet Theodore – having won the ‘Best Rescue’ category of the fun dog show he went on to win ‘Dorset Dog of the Year 2019’
It was a pleasure to meet you, Theodore!
Celebrating dogs, wildlife and the countryside – we had a wonderful day! Festival sponsors I-Mac Fire & Security sponsored the Festival to highlight just how good dogs are for people’s health and well-being, whilst the Festival also served to introduce new dog-friendly countryside Canford Park SANG to many more people. There were over 40 stands ranging from dog businesses and charities to conservation and wildlife as well as refreshments, a fun dog show (sponsored by Natterjacks Vets with additional prizes from Hillside), hoopers, agility and rally-o rings and a huge marquee and even Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service in (promotional!) attendance so it was a lively, good-natured event, kicking off with a pre-Festival walkies around the rest of the lovely riverside venue.
With a hugely lucky break during a phase of unsettled weather there were 1200 cars in the overflow car park at just one point in the day with most carrying multiple people so there must easily have been over 3000 individual visitors over the course of the day!
.as shown by Mark Whittaker’s photos!
What a great way to introduce Canford Park SANG to lots more folks! It’s dog-friendly and off-lead all year round with no need to stick to the paths unless you want to, particularly useful when other places have restrictions (for eg ground-nesting birds during the spring and summer, or grazing animals) and it has free parking too! ‘SANG’ hasn’t been widely used before in naming places, but with so many nearby places including the term ‘Canford Park’ it’s being used here to distinguish it from the similar nameplaces (such as ‘Canford Park Arena’ just down the road and the Canford Park area of Wimborne). ‘SANG’ stands for ‘Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace’ and is a term used in recreation & conservation management.
Get a flavour of the Festival from the album at Dorset Dogs Festival Album 2019 featuring photos by Natasha, Jackie and Chris amongst others, and don’t miss the rest of Mark’s photos either – find those at this link https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGedxL5
Thanks to all of you who came and all who helped – visitors and stallholders, volunteers, sponsors and the venue. Keep an eye on the events page for next year’s Festival details!
I-Mac sponsored Dorset Dogs Festival 2019 in recognition of the wonderful health and well-being benefits of having a dog!
Natterjacks Vet sponsored the fun dog show!
