Pooches of all shapes and sizes put their best paw forward for the Ray White Mt Gambier Pooch Party on Sunday.
Dog lovers and their four-legged friends made their way to the Cave Gardens to enjoy the fun family day out, which raised funds for the Pink Paw Program and the South East Animal Welfare League (SEAWL).
The Pink Paw Program helps educate and support dog owners and the SEAWL is a not-for-profit organisation that provides temporary shelter for lost or abandoned animals across the region.
The day was blessed with sunny skies and Ray White Mt Gambier principal Tahlia Gabrielli said the event was a huge success.
“It was probably more well-received than what I expected,” Ms Gabrielli said.
“We went bigger this year and lucky we did because we had so many people there even before it started, so many people wanting to be involved with the event and so much feedback from people that it had been a great family day out.”
Various stalls in the marquee sold goodies for dogs and humans, kids had fun with giant games and face painting and Artscape held an activity for kids and adults.
Vancino kept everyone caffeinated, people enjoyed a sausage sizzle, and Pink Paw Program founder and behavioural trainer Taylor Wheeler hosted sessions including energy training, lead training and training regarding recall commands.
“It was a wonderful turnout, we had a lot more dogs this year which was great,” Ms Wheeler said.
“We had our Kids and K9s event at the start which we had some awesome kids get involved with and learn about dog behaviour and safety and the classes turned out great as well for the dog training.
“The owners were really engaged, and the dogs were quite engaged as well, it is always a little bit hard in places like that with so many distractions, but everyone did really well.
“Teaching our dogs how to behave in a public setting is always key and it is really important.”
Ms Gabrielli said the Ray White Mt Gambier team were all dog lovers and said dogs were a great connector for people.
“We are known for Winnie, having an office dog, the Ray White network has this Great Australian Backyard Pooch Party concept as their marketing and so we decided to take it to the next level,” she said.
“With every family there is usually an animal and that is a part of the family, and being held on a Sunday it is a good family day and an easy thing for everyone to be involved with.
“It is also another way to give back, all those aspects they are important to us, being community minded, and family is big one for me and the value of our business.
“Thank you so much to our community for embracing it and for being so supportive, we had sponsors also, everyone put up their hand to help and be involved and donate, we have been so lucky, it would not happen without all of that.
“The charities we were raising money for were so grateful and to have the South East Animal Welfare League and Pink Paw Program there and to have the training and education there as well, people really loved that.”
Ms Wheeler said the Pink Paw Program team was grateful to Ray White Mt Gambier for supporting their organisation.
“We really look forward to seeing everyone hopefully next year and everyone has been fantastic, we love seeing how many beautiful dogs there are in this town,” she said.
“We saw all the dogs getting on really well, so that says a lot for Mount Gambier and the owners here, so we were very, very happy to see that.”
