Well, what can I say, the 13th Annual Bulldog Picnic was quite possibly the best bulldog picnic EVER!!! Yes, I know I say that every year but OMG we lost count after 500 people had come through the gate! The additional parking this year was a godsend and my dad and one of our volunteers; Joanne coped admirably with the 100s of cars that needed to be placed in a way that didn't upset the residents of Pook Lane. Thanks also to everyone that followed directions and parked where they were supposed to.
The afternoon raised £3,000 for Bulldog Rescue and for the first time we started 2 hours earlier and asked a couple of speakers to talk. I wasn't sure how well this would be received, but Sue Phillips' Grooming demonstration and Steve Battens Behaviour talk were both very well attended and both received really good feedback with most people reporting that the talks were very helpful.
The entire event was this year filmed by Sky TV as part of a forthcoming documentary ("Dogumentary") due to be aired in November. They were there mainly to film the fancy dress competition as the documentary is following the 2 judges around different canine events, I did undertake an very awkward interview which I hope isn't used as I felt very uncomfortable talking to a camera in the middle of a field, but they have assured me that none of the footage will be used in a way that brings any more bad press to the breed and the director actually commented on what a fantastic breed the bulldog is. "Rambo" won this year and I must admit he looked absolutely fantastic - bearing in mind part of the documentary will be putting voices to some of the dogs it's going to be hillarious to hear what he has to say about his afternoon.
As usual the Rescue Parade bought in the crowd and as this is the highlight of my day too it was just so wonderful to see some of the dogs come back to see us, all looking so well and happy. After which we showed off 2 dogs from the Kennel that were looking for homes, Mo and Meghan had a fantastic afternoon, and both were absolutely shattered when they got back to the kennel.
Sadly, Mo didn't wake up the next morning, but I'd like to think that she died in the middle of a lovely dream remembering her day out as she really did seem to enjoy her afternoon out. Ironically, Mo arrived in rescue at last year's picnic so exactly a year to the day she decided it was time to leave, a big shock for me I can tell you, but she looked so peaceful in her bed fast asleep that I just hope she had fun on her last day and that she has fond memories of me and the rest of kennel crew that have helped to care for her this last year. Run free Mo, thank you for chosing us to wait for.
So, now that everything is finally put away for another year and we go back to the usual day to day stuff we are already looking forward to next years picnic - the 14th Annual Bulldog Picnic takes place on Saturday 3rd September - put it in your diary NOW
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