Discover Dogs

This great event takes place twice a year, the first time is at Crufts which is held at the NEC, Birmingham in March and lasts all four days of the show, Thursday to Sunday.

The second event is held at Excel London and is held over a weekend in late October.

This is the breed’s opportunity to showcase our lovely minis. Each breed has a ‘booth’ which is decorated and for which there is a competition for the best one. (We haven’t won this yet) Our booth has wall hangings which depict a room in a house. There is a fireplace, a window on to the garden and we have a little sofa for the dogs to sit on and a mat in front of the fire which is one of the favourite places for a mini to spend time when they are not sitting on you.

We display photographs of many minis, usually in an unusual pose, like taking part in Agility Sessions, eating ice cream or in a toy car to name a few. We are required to display other information such as health issues common to the breed but we also have a number of booklets to give away to interested people such as, ‘Is this the breed for you?’, ‘Health Issues’ and a booklet about the club giving information such as the history of the breed, club contacts and a membership form should you wish to join.

Our job is to promote the health, welfare and responsible ownership of the breed and to answer questions and give advice and information which we do willingly and honestly. Minis are wonderful pets but let’s not pretend they are stubborn as well!!

Part of the booth is sectioned off to keep the minis separate from the public but you’ll see from the photographs in the website’s gallery that many times the minis on display are shown being petted, cuddled and played with by anyone who comes near!

The booth is manned by club members who volunteer to come for a day, or half a day and bring some of their own pets to be played with and thoroughly enjoyed. We make sure the minis are given time to rest and to be fed and walked, so we usually have several minis in the booth at a time to share out the cuddles and admiration so they don’t get stressed by being overwhelmed.

Our booth is always busy, often leading to people queuing to get in and ask their questions, some come to join the club, some people come back year after year and often at the club shows we see people who we have talked to at Discover Dogs, given advice to and guided them towards owning a mini so we have made many friends.

Not only are there minis to spend time with but there’s the rest of the show to see as well, all the other breeds and all the stalls and organisations such as Animal Health Trust are represented and there are many demonstrations to watch.

It’s a very tiring four days but we have a great time and get to meet lots of new people.

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