Hounds on the Heath 2016

Hounds on the Heath, taken by Pet Pride Photography.
On Sunday morning, Mookie and I were awoken with a bath, which could only mean one thing: we were heading somewhere special!

Hounds on the Heath was on our agenda for the day. The annual dog-travagant event (previously called Hyde Bark) is run by The Mayhew Animal Home, the wonderful charity that took me in and cared for me after I was abandoned on the streets of London. The event promised dog treats and games galore - and The Mayhew never disappoint.

Hampstead Heath is a doggy delight, with 320 hectares of lush green space to frolic and roam in; Mookie went springing through the meadows like a bunny rabbit! As we walked down the hill, we glimpsed The Mayhew's iconic blue marquees, heard joyful barking, and knew that was where all the action was.

The first thing we did was browse the many stalls for toys, accessories and food. We hadn't seen Richard for hours as he'd been working a night shift, and we got the best surprise ever when we spotted him at one of the stalls buying treats for us - we attempted to knock him and the stall over in excitement!

Hounds on the Heath: Our Top Picks

The Dog Show

Without a doubt, the celebrity-judged Dog Show was the main event, and I only went and won the 'Sweetest Staffie' title!

Celebrating my 'Sweetest Staffie' win.





Of course, with so many lovely staffordshire bull terriers in the ring (proving every negative stereotype wrong!), it couldn't have been an easy decision for Kiss FM presenter and 'Sweetest Staffie' judge Pandora Christie. For winning 1st place, I received a fantastic goodie bag filled with treats that I'll share with Mookie, but she can't share my winner's rosette - that's all mine!

The other categories included Best Veteran, Best Rescue Story, Gorgeous Girl, Best Looking Boy, Dead Ringers, Pooch and Pal, and then the winner from each category took to the ring one final time for Best In Show, which was awarded to the deserving rescue dog Tyi.

Agility Course

The agility course was so much fun! Provided by Friendly Creatures, Mookie and I were jumping through hoops and over hurdles, testing our balancing skills on beams and seesaws, and running through tunnels. Bar my stopping for a wee halfway around, Mookie and I both completed the agility course like pros, and were awarded a bag of tasty treats each.

Making fur-iends on Hampstead Heath, photographed by Jo Moolenschot.


Temptation Alley

Can you believe the humans actually doubted us on this one?! The aim of the game was to pass through temptation alley without stopping to munch on the many bowls of food along the way, and being the well-behaved dogs that we are, we totally nailed it.

Happily Rehomed Parade

Our absolute highlight was the Happily Rehomed Parade, as it's simply a beautiful thing to see all of the ex-Mayhew doggies strutting their stuff with their new forever families. I took Richard up for my moment in the spotlight, and we did all of our best tricks to show the crowd how far I've come since my days in the kennel.

Over £5,500 Raised!

Hounds on the Heath 2016 raised more than £5,500 for The Mayhew Animal Home, all of which will go back into helping more animals in need. If you get a chance to attend one of their events and support this fantastic charity, we highly recommend doing so. We can't wait for the next one, but until then, we're gonna catch some much-needed z's!

After our big weekend, we are two tired pups!

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