One of the advantages of running a blog about dogs in London is that you get to hear about all the cool doggie things going on around town. So when I heard about the All Dogs Matter Valentines Walk on Hampstead Heath, I loved the idea of doing a Valentine’s walk to raise money for rescue dogs. As a dog lover, could there be a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Time to round-up the troops! We (me, my partner, his kids and our friend Linda) signed up for the event with Belinha and Nina as our four-legged entries. It was just £5 per dog to enter and you could raise more through getting sponsored which the kids set about doing with gusto.
At the last-minute, much to the kids disappointment it looked like we were going to be one dog down due to injury. A big thank you to Rowena at All Dogs Matter who saved the day by putting us on the volunteer list to walk one of their rescue dogs. So come the 15th February, 3 adults, 2 kids and 1 dog piled into the car to make the trip from South to North london for the walk.
We arrived at the Garden Gate Pub in Hampstead and were met with lots (and I mean lots) of dogs and their owners. The kids (Sophia and Theo) had raised £89 between them so we handed over our sponsorship money, got our Lily’s Kitchen goody bags (yay!) and waited eagerly to see which All Dogs Matter dog was going to be ours for the day.
Sophia and Theo couldn’t believe their luck when Nina from All Dogs Matter brought us sweet little Molly a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel with only one eye. We’d brought along some extra Valentine’s doggie gear so Molly was quickly dressed and ready to go. How adorable did Molly and Nina (the dog) look…
The walk around Hampstead Heath was a pawsomely perfect way to spend Valentine’s Sunday. We made lots of new friends (two and four-legged), one of our favourites being this gorgeous boy Jean-Pierre who was rescued from France…
Then it was back to the Garden Gate Pub for a well deserved coffee, the raffle and to check out some of the doggie-licious goodies on offer. The Dog Cake Em’paw’rium were selling fabulously decadent cakes, with a special selection for doggies although both the doggie and the people cakes looked so good I’m not sure we would have noticed the difference if we’d got a doggie cake by mistake!
We love this photo of The All Dogs Matter office dog Abi eating her cake!
Hashtagdogtag were also there and we loved their custom-made funky dog (and people) tags. Definitely time to come up with a good hashtag for when The Dogvine Crew need some new tags! We know someone who should be wearing this one…
Ethical liver treats from Beautiful Joes who donate a box of treats to a rescue for every box of treats bought from them were also on sale. All the meat used in making the treats is free range and pasture fed and they donate 1% of sales to Compassion in World Farming. What lovely treats (and people).
No All Dogs Matter event would be the same without photographer Ian from Dogstar Photo who volunteers his time to cover the All Dogs Matter events and take fantastic pictures of the dogs. Have a look at Ian’s amazing photos of the day on Facebook. Nina even posed like a pro…
We were really pleased to hear that the walk raised £1,098.72 for All Dogs Matter! As a bonus, some dogs who were waiting to be adopted found their furever homes on the day. Sadly, gorgeous dogs such as Babs and Diesel weren’t so lucky in love and are still looking for theirs…
To find out about re-homing Babs, please visit her All Dogs Matter Profile.
To find out about re-homing Diesel, please visit his All Dogs Matter Profile.
The All Dogs Matter Valentines Walk really was a perfectly pawsome day and we’re looking forward to the next All Dogs Matter event – The Great Hampstead Bark Off in May (more on that soon). Hope to see you there!
Sharing the doggy love some more as part of the BlogPaws Blog Hop…
So much love in the air 🙂
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And the best kind…doggy love 🙂
Looks like a really good time for everyone, and the photos are pawsome~
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Thank you Cathy! It was a great day 🙂
Is there possibly a better day? Dog friends, cupcakes, goodies , and family time! Who hoo! Looks like load of fun!
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Summed up very nicely…it was a fab day!
What a wonderful event. Happy dogs, great treats, and beautiful photos! You can’t ask for more.
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No you can’t! Thanks for coming by…
That looks like a great day. Love all the photos
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Thank you it was and all the doggies had a great time too!
Looks like fun!
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Definitely was a lot of fun!
Yes! All pups matter! Great! *wags* – Gilligan from WagsAhoy.com
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They do…It’s a great charity with a great name!
That looks like the best day ever.
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It was a fantastic day!
Look at all those lovely doggies! We went on a nice walk on Valentine’s Day too. After all, the day is about spending time with those you love the most!
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Absolutely! It was nice to be able to do that and help some doggies in need of some love!
What a great way to spend Valentine’s Day! Hope Babs and Diesel find their forever home soon. They look like sweeties!
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It was! They are really sweet, we’re keeping our paws crossed they do too!
Those are some cute pups. I hope the event raised lots of money.
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They are indeed! It raised about $1,695 which is great for the pups. The charity does events like these a few times in the year and it all adds up. Every penny counts!
What a great event, the UK is way more advanced in some areas of taking care of animals. Love Dolly
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It was a fantastic event. That’s great that you think so Dolly, love The Dogvine Crew
What a wonderful cause!!!
Smileys!
Dory
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It is! Woofs from The Dogvine Crew!
What a great event! All of those dogs look so awesome!
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I know…it was hard to not take them all home!