At The Old Vicarage, our Wallingford-based residential and dementia care home, the care team and residents are getting their ‘dogs in a line’ preparing for the care home’s inaugural pooch parade dog show, affectionately named ‘The Woofies’.
“We decided to arrange the Dog Show as the residents not only love animals, but frequently reminisce about pets they have loved during their lives,” said Carol Bourne, the Registered Manager at The Old Vicarage. “Whilst we’ve never hosted a dog show before, we do have an Annual Dog Agility Competition, which one of our team organises, so it seemed like a good idea to combine the two.”
The Show Ring will be set-up in the care home’s beautiful garden area. “We thought this would be the ideal place for the event as it provides plenty of viewing space for the residents, their families and dog owners to watch the proceedings and not miss a thing, as that would be a ‘faux-paw’,” Carol continued.
The Woofies will start at 2 pm on Saturday 29th June and will be a wide and varied range of award categories to enter, as well as the Doggie Agility Competition. “We wanted to open up the Woofies to as many dogs and their humans as possible,” added Carol. “We have a range of award classes planned including Most Handsome Dog, Prettiest Lady Dog, Cutest Rescue Dog, The Waggiest Tail and, of course, Best in Show. We’ll have around 10 to 12 awards – as well as the Agility Award.”
The Dog Show and Dog Agility Competition is free to enter and there’s no pre-booking, humans can enter their doggie companions on the day.
The Old Vicarage residents will act as Judges for the event and award handmade rosettes to the top three winners in each class. However, no pup will leave with empty paws, as each dog who enters will be given a doggie bag of tasty doggie treats. “We are not stopping there,” continued Carol. “After the pooches have ‘Raised the Woof’ and ‘Gone Mutts’, everyone will be treated to a delicious afternoon tea.
In addition to all the canine fun, Carol will be on hand to give any visitors tours of The Old Vicarage. “From 2 p.m. on 29th June, I will also be able to take visitors on tours of our care home,” Carol added. “Hosting our canine capers afternoon will be the perfect opportunity for visitors to see The Old Vicarage – both inside and out – and see the dedicated care team in action as they deliver individualised, person-centred care to each resident and respite guest.
“Knowing how much our residents adore animals, we thought that hosting The Woofies and Dog Agility Competition would be great thing to do for them to get involved with, and they are ‘def-fur-nately’ looking forward to it,” Carol concluded.
To find out more about The Old Vicarage care home or about the Woofies Dog Show, call 01491 651 429 or email enquiries@fote.org.uk.