Who let the dogs out!

DOG lovers turned out in their hundreds on Saturday afternoon to support Tony, the Dogfather, Waters and raise more than BD1,700 towards helping him find a new home.

The Dogfather, so named by a front page article in GulfWeekly telling of his devotion to the cats and dogs at his 2nd Chance animal rescue, has been told to find new premises as the compound where he and his furry family live in Karranah has been sold for redevelopment.

When they read of his plight a month ago, British Ambassador Jamie Bowden and his wife Sarah decided to do something to help and volunteered the Embassy grounds for a dog show, which took place at the weekend.

Almost 270 people registered to attend and more turned up on the day taking the numbers to well over 300.

And the dogs in attendance included everything from tiny Pomeranians and Yorkies to giant Great Dane, Elliott, all taking part in fun classes such as dog with the waggiest tail, prettiest girl, most handsome boy and best in show - the dog the judges would most like to take home - which was won by rescue terrier Archie with owners Graham Cole and Carina Gutteridge who received a year's supply of Purina pet food courtesy of the lovely people at Al Jazira supermarket.

Canine ambassadors from 2nd Chance also put in an appearance going through their paces in the ring in the hope of finding a new family.

There were stalls from the Cat Society of Bahrain and Pet Animals' 2nd Chance thrift shop, guess the dinars and doggy biscuits in the jar, name the giant teddy and a grand draw with prizes donated by the Banyan Tree Desert Resort and Spa, Pineapple Spa, Bahrain International Circuit, Crowne Plaza, Jims and several individuals.

The show was launched by Radio Bahrain and GulfWeekly's own Marie Claire, local band Frankie and Friends, featuring Christine Gordon, entertained the dogs and their humans with blues and jazz numbers between classes and youngsters attending were able to cool off in the pool thanks to the services of hunky lifeguard Mohammed who was loaned for the afternoon by the Lost Paradise of Dilmun.

It was the first time we've done anything like this and it was put together in just three weeks so it was all a bit frantic but it went off brilliantly, there was a really good turn-out, many more people and dogs than I dared to hope for.

Everyone, dogs and owners, was really good humoured and didn't mind waiting while we got all the entries registered and so, so many people gave their time and efforts, not to mention prizes and cash, to help make the day a success.

I'd like to say a huge thankyou to everyone who helped from dog walkers, who took care of the 2nd Chance dogs on the day, to those who baked cakes, ran stalls, registered and judged dogs, Linda and Skantha the ring stewards, Mohammed the lifeguard who kept such a careful eye on the pool while we were all having fun and, of course, Sarah and Jamie Bowden who came up with the idea and welcomed us all into their grounds.

We raised much more than expected, everyone was very generous, and the money has now been handed over to Tony to go towards finding new premises or leasing some land for kennels, some will also go towards purchasing portable air-conditioning units to help keep the animals cool during the approaching hotter months so if anyone's got any old air-con units or fans they want to get rid off, we can certainly make use of them.