IWCT Hydration Station Saves a Hot Pink Summer Day
One thing we will all remember about Summer 2018 is the warm weather and the heatwave that seems to have been going on for weeks now.
Sunday 5th August was no exception to the recent trend and temperatures in Wisbech topped over 30 degrees and the Pink Tractor Fun Day really was sizzling in the Summer sun.
This was the 15th anniversary of the dog show held on the Pink Tractor field, playing host to both general and novelty dog classes as well as special Irish Wolfhound classes.
Even without this year’s unusual meteorological trend, the fun dog show is renowned for attracting good weather and so the trustees of the Irish Wolfhound Charitable Trust, at a recent meeting, agreed it would be helpful to provide a ‘Hydration Station’ for all dogs at the show, rather than asking the ‘Original Cake Ladies’ to produce their usual culinary delights, which we feared would melt away on a hot summers day!
The IWCT had a small stall and gazebos in one corner of the field offering shade from the blistering sun, as well as bowls of fresh water and free Oralade and buckets of water for any owners wanting to dunk cool coats or towels.
Oralade is a “specially formulated hypotonic drink designed to quickly replenish, fluids, minerals, glucose and the nutrients dogs need for optimum hydration”(www.oraladepet.com).
Those attending the fun dog show were given free samples to take home, but anyone can still buy the product from the website and we have been given a 30% discount until the end of August to share with you, using the code ‘oraladehydrateaugoff1’ So please, don't just take our word, give it a try, and feel free to take advantage of the money off kindly offered to the IWCT.
Some of the IWCT trustees also carried out an informal taste test with, what the owner described as, a very picky dog. The dog was offered the choice of 4 bowls; 1 bowl of just fresh water, 1 bowl of quarter diluted Oralade, 1 bowl of half diluted Oralade and the final bowl of neat Oralade. The dog went straight to the bowl of pure Oralade and drank the lot - not very scientific, but certainly confirmed the results we had already found with other dogs.
The "Hydration Station" served its purpose thanks to the generosity of all those at Oralade and also fulfils one of the IWCTs main criteria, which is that of welfare, and ensuring that all dogs were kept hydrated also helped the dogs to be able to participate in the show classes and cope better with the heat.
Kathy Goodall (Driftcot) judged the Irish Wolfhound classes and her Puppy class winner was also her overall best Wolfhound winner, which was the lovely Axel owned by Sandy Dawson. That success comes hot on the heels of fantastic results from the recent championship show at Leeds where Axel (Austonley’s Falcon of Shalico) not only won best puppy in breed, but went on to take Hound Puppy Group 1. Kim Webb’s dog, Grady (Goldswift Mission Impossible for Inkleyboys) took best Wolfhound Junior, Carole Kelly’s Niall (Bonaforte’s Kellys Hero) won the Wolfhound Male class and Tilly, owned by Alison Crosse, was the winner of the Wolfhound Female class. Irish Wolfhounds also had success in other classes on the day under judge, Sylvia Court, with Caroline Sheppard’s Whisper winning the Veteran class and Simon Bridges’ Mr Brown winning the Best Mover class and also Best in Show. Best puppy in show went to the Whippet, Dolly Daydream, owned by Joe and Alan Kirk and best cross-breed went to Dama, owned by Barbara Townsend from Wisbech Galgo and Podenco Rescue.
Sadly Judi Ferrbert, who has organised the Pink Tractor Show all these years, announced her retirement on Sunday. I’m sure everyone will join us in wishing Judi all the best and thanking her for all her hard work both centre stage and behind the scenes and also for all the money she has helped to raise for good causes over her 31 years of tireless efforts.
As part of our fundraising, the IWCT held a raffle in advance of the day to win a beautiful portrait entitled “Heads and Tails” by renowned artist, Colleen Ellis. We are incredibly fortunate to have Colleen as our President here at the Irish Wolfhound Charitable Trust, and her generosity is endless. Her popularity also extends beyond the Wolfhound world, and we were greatly honoured that the fabulous Knights of the Crusades offered to perform at the Pink Tractor Fun Day - a group that was created by Colleen’s late husband, Michael and both he and Colleen would take part in the performances accompanied by their Wolfhounds. Michael Ellis’s legacy still lives on, and the Knights now thrill audiences all over the world. They kindly donated their proceeds to the IWCT and even waived their usual fee to brave the heat in full costume. These proceeds, plus the proceeds from the portrait raffle and other donations on the day raised a fantastic £643 addition to the IWCT General Fund.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported the only registered wolfhound charity.