MOUNT Gambier will host canines big and small this weekend for the annual Blue Lake Obedience Dog Club October trials.
Dogs of all breeds and their owners from across the nation’s south-eastern area will converge on the region for the two day event.
Over 650 entries have been received which includes trainers from Adelaide, Melbourne, the Riverland, south west Victoria and the Limestone Coast.
The four different events – agility, jumping, rally and obedience – will be held across arenas with a variety of skill levels on show.
Agility trainer Karen Brooksby said the club was excited about the amount of entries this year.
“The 650 entries is for all different events,” she said.
“It obviously does not mean we have 650 dogs competing, but it’s very impressive for the weekend.
“It’s really amazing for the club to have so many people joining in on the event.”
The club has hosted mock trials in the lead up to this weekend to show owners what the atmosphere is like at an official event.
“It can be pretty daunting competing at your first trial,” Ms Brooksby said.
“Having a mock event helps the owners and their dogs get used to how things are run so when it comes to the day they’re ready to go.”
Competitors will earn points in each of the skill level events which count towards their overall rank.
In addition to serious events, two different novelty games will be held tomorrow afternoon.
“We will have snooker and strategic pairs,” Ms Brooksby said.
“In snooker the dogs will run around a course doing different things in order to gather points as quickly as they can.
“And in strategic pairs there’s teams of two dogs and two trainers who work together on a course.”
Although it is the club’s smaller trial for 2018, having held its main event over Easter, organisers still expect good crowd numbers.
“It’s free admission and fully catered so we hope to see everyone out here,” club president Jan Hellyer said.
“Anyone can come and watch and if they like what they see they can inquire about joining the cub.
“We have obedience and agility trainers at the club so owners can learn a lot about how to train their pets.”
The event will be held at Hastings Cunningham Reserve from 8.30am to 5pm tomorrow and 8.30am to 12pm on Sunday.
