Long Compton dog day success with sausage catching competition amongst the events

SAUSAGE catching, posing and being cute were just some of the star qualities on display at a dog day in Long Compton.

Canines from around the county ‘pawsed’ what they were doing to lead their owners to the Red Lion, where classes included best poser, best owner lookalike, best golden oldie, best sausage catcher and best rescue.

There was even a best child/canine crime duo category, which posed the crucial question: ‘Who creates the distraction while the other steals the chips?’

Rosettes and prizes were won by the top three canines in each category, as judged by experts from Shipston-based Xavier Dog Training and Byron Dog Training in Chipping Norton. All profits generated from the dog day, held at the 18th-century Grade-II listed former coaching inn on Saturday (27th September), go to the Cotswolds Dogs & Cats Home.

And it wasn’t just perfect pooches who had something to celebrate. Red Lion owners Lisa Phipps and Sarah Keightley and their team were chuffed to make it through to the finals of this year’s national Great British Pub Awards.

They were shortlisted for Best Pub for Dogs and invited to the glitzy awards ceremony in Leeds.

Two other local pubs were also successful – the Bull in Charlbury won best pub for food, while the Black Pug in Warwick was named Star pub of the year.

As for the dog day, which also included face painting, glitter tattoos and colouring for kids, it proved so popular there’s talk of another..

A spokesperson for the Red Lion said: “Thank you to everyone who joined us for our very first Dog Day especially our kind sponsors Cotswold Raw, Cotswold Sweet Shoppe, The Canine Menu, Ashley Cook Flooring and Aubrey Allen.

“We also couldn’t have done it without the help of SE Hicks Contracting, who got the bales in place and put up the marquee and all the volunteers who ran the dog show, the raffle and the kids’ activities.

“It really did take more than a village to make Dog Day happen.”