The inaugural Dogs Allowed was great fun and well attended by enthusiastic people and dogs.

The cold, snow, wind and rain didn't prevent a full programme of displays and competitions and watching dog sledding whilst the snow fell seemed to be exactly the right thing to do.

About 4000 people and dogs visited Thirlestane Castle over the two days and the most telling comment was that is was lovely to have somewhere to take your dog to. It had to be further explained to me (I don't have a dog) that dogs are taken by their owners to events the owners are attending, but this time it was as if the dogs were taking their owners to their own event.

I find that dogs usually want to be chatted to and petted when they see a human being, but this time they weren't interested in people as there were so many other dogs all round them. It was distracting to dogs in the competition ring when they realised they were being admired by other canines and the rush to the fence to make acquaintance with the dog audience was great fun to watch.

I'm sure a lot of dogs had never seen so many other dogs at one time before and they were a credit to themselves and their owners. There were no fights, very little barking, and one obedient dog even jumped into my neighbours car when she called 'Hamish' (his name, although she was actually calling her son who is also called Hamish). I don't know who was more surprised, my neighbour or her son, who suddenly found a usurper in his car seat!

Full marks to the lady who brought her dogs, three children and a ladder for the 'Best Dog Tricks' competition. The dog may not have done his party trick as well as she knew he could, but it was lovely to watch all the same.

Thanks to those who went in for the terrier racing. I've never laughed so much as I did when one terrier squeezed under the fence and ran up the side of the competition ring with another dog right behind. He obviously thought it was a short cut as he squeezed back in up near the starting block.  He didn't quite get the hang of the fact that at this time he was supposed to be the opposite end, at the Finish.

As a community group we did what we set out to do; hold a fun event that could become and annual fundraiser for ourselves and others. We had no funding apart from business sponsorship and advertisements in the programme and just broke even. We kept the entry price low (£3) as at eh first event it's more important to get people's interest than to make a profit.

There was an enormous amount of organising to do and did this in conjunction with Thirlestane Castle. Unfortunately they won't be doing this as a joint project in 2009 but we are hiring the castle grounds and running the whole thing ourselves. It should not be obvious to any visitors to Dogs Allowed that it's being run solely by LDT this time.

We are hoping that warmer weather will make it more pleasant for volunteers and visitors and by holding it the weekend after the Border Vintage Car Rally we have share the infrastructure. It is cheaper are reduces our carbon footprint if marquees etc. are put up before the rally and taken down after Dogs Allowed.

There are a few more images of Dogs Allowed to see in the Gallery.

For information see www.dogsallowed.org.uk and for the blog go to www.ghcollier.com.