Rawalpindi It was an exciting Sunday morning for the dog lovers of Rawalpindi as the second ‘All Breed Dog Show’ was held at the Ayub National Park. Many people came with their pedigreed and non-pedigreed dogs to participate in the event. It was a much-anticipated dog show as the first one which was held at the same venue was quite successful. The chief guest on the occasion was Army Heritage Foundation Ayub National Park Director General Brigadier (r) Zaman Nasrullah Khan Niazi. The dog show was sponsored by the Qureshi Enterprise in collaboration with the Army Heritage Foundation. The significance of the show was that it was open for all dogs -- pedigreed and non-pedigreed. The competition was held on the basis of two categories -- confirmation and training. Anwar Hussain judged dogs under ‘confirmation category’ and under ‘training category’ Brigadier (r) Khalid Hamid Chughtai judged th entries. Dogs registered for the competition included Dasche Hund, German Shepherd, Springer Spaniel, Labrador, Afghan Terrier, Shih Tzu, Cocker Spaniel, Rottweiler and many other breeds. The sizes of the dogs fascinated the kids as some were afraid to get close to the big ones and quite excited to see the toy dogs that were carried around in laps. The event was organised in a perfect manner and to ensure cleanliness of the place sweepers off and on cleaned the venue. Talking to ‘The News’ , the training judge Brigadier (r) Khalid Hameed Chughtai said that he got special training from Germany. “The employment of dogs is ever increasing. Guard dogs are being effectively used in securing strategic and sensitive installations as well as for personal protection. The sniff dogs are also hired for the detection of narcotics, ammunition and explosive search. The training of such dogs is done at the Army Dog Training Centre in Rawalpindi on scientific methods. There is a lot of need for private centrs to train such dogs,” he said. Army Heritage Foundation Ayub National Park Director General Brigadier (r) Zaman Nasrullah Khan Niazi, while talking to ‘The News,’ said that this is the second time that we have successfully conducted the dog show at the Ayub National Park in Rawalpindi. “After seeing the overwhelming response of public, we’ll make sure that this show is continued in the future. On festival days, public should use bridges so that there is no traffic jam on GT Road. The latest feature in the park includes the renovation of open-air theatre so that people could come and enjoy themselves along with their families. There were many winners in the event, but ‘Twitters Amadeus’ nicknamed ‘Chips’ of Dasche Hund breed owned by Ayesha Gul won first prize in 'Open Category'. The dog has been winning titles in various dog show competitions. Its owner, Ayesha Gul, while speaking to ‘The News,’ said that her parents were also world champions and now she has this unique breed. "A lot of care is being put into the dog's grooming. You should have to be an ardent dog lover to keep such precious dogs,” she said.
