Three-day dog show to start from today in Ooty

Udhagamandalam: A three-day dog show will be inaugurated at the Government Arts College ground in Ooty on Friday.
On the first day, ‘obedience test’ and ‘specialty show’ for Golden Retriever will be held. While about 38 dogs including four police dogs will take part in the obedience test, about 60 Golden Retriever in the specialty show.
Besides, about 343 dogs of 45 different breeds, including Pug, Doberman, Shih Tzu, a Thailand breed, and Hounds, from across the country will be part of the main shows on Saturday and Sunday. The championship show for different breeds will be held during these two days.
“This year two new breeds — ‘Bichonfrise’, a French breed, and ‘English Pointer’ — will be introduced in the show,” secretary of South of India Kennel Club, which organizes the show, Nagina said. “Combai, a breed from Tamil Nadu, will also be introduced as part of a reviving breed.”
Three judges from Australia and Philippines will assess the performance of the dogs. There are about 172 classifications among the seven groups of dogs including Hound group, Gun dog group and Pastoral group.
The dog show, being part and parcel of the ‘Ooty Summer Festival’ in the first week of May, has always been crowd-puller.
The show, which was started in 1993, will be held between 9.30am to 6.30pm on all the three days. During the show, ‘dog of the year’ will be selected. The two-day main shows are the 128th and 129th editions of SIKC, Nagina said.