Two Leicester care homes held special dog shows last month giving their residents the chance to spend the afternoon in the company of their favourite family pets.
Beaumont Hall care home, on Beaumont Leys in Leicester, and Mountview care home, on Loughborough Road in Rothley, hosted their Scrufts dog shows in the gardens of each care home.
Residents at both care homes, along with their families, enjoyed the show and voted for their favourite pets in a range of categories.
Beaumont Hall and Mountview are residential and dementia care homes operated by Ideal Carehomes.
At Beaumont Hall, nine dogs took part in the show, including a Labrador, toy poodle and a sausage dog. The dogs were judged in various categories; the ‘most fabulous fella’, the ‘loveliest lady’, the ‘coolest pup’, the ‘dog with the waggiest tail’, the ‘best talent’ and, finally, the ‘best lookalike’ with their owner. All the dogs who entered the show received a goodie bag with a ball and a cone full of treats and the winners received a certificate and a rosette.
Beaumont Hall home manager, Lee Daly, said: “This is the first time that we have held the Scrufts dog show but it was a great success and all the residents had a fantastic time so we will definitely do it again next year.
“Being around animals, especially dogs, is wonderful for our resident’s health and wellbeing as dogs provide comfort and companionship as well as time outdoors and lots of fun and laughter.
“On the day, we had an agility course laid out with cones and all the dogs went through the tunnel and then we had a parade of the dogs and a meet and greet. We had a great mixture of smaller and bigger dogs which made it more interesting.”
Mountview home manager, Stacie Weaver added: “One of our residents came up with the idea to host a dog show and it has had a really positive impact on our residents, they loved being around the dogs.
“Our local Asda store kindly donated a mini hamper for us which we donated to Leicester Animal Aid, which was suggested by one of our residents.
“We also awarded our dog show winners with some doggy treats, toys and a bottle of wine for the owner.”