Bendigo Showgrounds plays host to six championship dog shows in boost for region

Bendigo, Eaglehawk and Castlemaine and District kennel clubs co-hosted the four-day event with the main Saturday show celebrating 90 years of dog showing in Bendigo.

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Bendigo local Fleur Hastings was chuffed with her furry friend's performance. Five month old deerhound Bhealaich Wynter Gem may be young but she's already taking home prizes.

"My new little puppy had a nice group win in the baby puppy section so she gets to compete with her first best in show," Mrs Hastings said.

"You never know what's gonna happen in the ring with puppies.

"But they've had a great time playing all weekend."

Mrs Hastings said Wynter had been enjoying playing with her deerhound friends at the show as well as competing, and said her love of the breed has inspired her to show dogs.

"I just fell in love with the breed," she said.

"We were looking for a big breed and I came across the [deerhound] breed and they just suited our needs and we thought they'd be wonderful family dogs which they are."

Romsey-based Rhodesian Ridgeback owner Jess Lowe made the trip to Bendigo with her dog Zeke and said it had been a great weekend.

"He got best of breed, best in group and intermediate in show so he did really well yesterday," Ms Lowe said.

"Today he got best of breed again and he got intermediate in group.

"I'm very proud - it's our first time getting that high up."

Castlemaine business owner Elise Brown is a newbie to dog shows but she said it had been terrific to run her stall for Fair Dinkum Dogs and meet plenty of owners.

"This is the first show I've ever come to and it's been so much fun," she said.

"It's so nice to watch people with their dogs and showing their dogs so much love.

"And the quality of the breeds is just amazing."

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The successful four-day run of shows saw 4201 entries across the six championships with group categories of toy, terrier, gundog, hound, working dog, utility and non-sporting.

The most popular breeds included Papillons, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Border Collies, Dalmatians and Samoyeds.

Besides all the cute, furry friends, organisers said another benefit of the combined shows was that local camping sites were booked out for the weekend in another boost to the region.

On the back of such a successful event, the clubs are hoping to recruit new members and those interested can contact the Bendigo and Eaglehawk Kennel Clubs on Facebook.

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