We are thrilled to reveal that we raised over £1,262 yesterday (Sunday 23 August) at our first ever virtual Hounds in your Home dog show!

With coronavirus restrictions hindering our ability to host our popular ‘Hounds on the Heath’ event this year, we wanted to bring all the fun of our annual dog show into the comfort of people’s living rooms, so hosted a very special, fun virtual event in its place.

Sponsored by Butternut Box and Bought by Many, we were joined by wonderful host Sue Perkins, and celebrity judges Robin Ince, Pandora Christie, Laura Aikman and Anthony Head. Our very own CEO Caroline Yates also joined in as a judge, whilst Bought by Many’s Chief Commercial Officer, Charlotte dropped in to judge the ‘Hounds Have Talent’ category.

With incredible prizes up for grabs, the competition was ruff, and all pooches did a wonderful job at wagging their tails in the waggiest manner, fetching like no other, and even swimming, splashing and playing around in water in an attempt at becoming crowned winner of our ‘Best in Show’ category.

Congratulations to all the pawsome category winners, who will each receive a virtual certificate, rosette and exciting goodie bag!

Well done to our overall ‘Best in Show’ winner, Hugo, who has won two weeks’ worth of scrumptious meals from Butternut Box, as well as a year’s free pet insurance courtesy of Bought by Many.

We were also joined by TheraPaws volunteers Marcel and his owner Aurelie to talk about their work during the coronavirus pandemic. As we moved our TheraPaws visits online earlier this year, Aurelie told us: “It’s been amazing to see (the patients) smiles… and it’s not just the patients, a lot of the staff were coming to say hello.”

Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Hounds in your Home is our first big fundraising event this year. Our Animal Welfare Officers have been working non-stop throughout lockdown to support those in our community who need a little extra help, and continue to deliver food, litter and flea and worming treatments to pet owners in need; as well as working on the frontline rescuing and rehabilitating lost, abandoned and injured animals. All sponsorships, event entries and donations raised from this event will help us to help even more cats, dogs and communities.

If you missed the live Hounds in your Home event, you can watch our recording here.