Top Dog comp p-awesome

Published: 30 April 2024

Last Updated: 6 May 2024

Six canine champions are going jowl to jowl in Napier’s third annual Dog Model competition.

Voting for the top dog begins on Tuesday 30 April and runs through to Sunday 5 May.

The six finalists are all Napier based and registered with Napier City Council. The winner will become the ‘poster dog’ for the 2024/25 Dog Registration campaign and will be awarded a brand new blue dog tag with one-year free dog registration.

Charlie, Ned, Flint, Amber, Douglas and Hugo were all nominated by their humans via social media. Nearly 300 dogs were nominated. Voting is via the Napier City Council Facebook page here.

Lance Titter, Executive Director of City Services at Napier City Council says the Dog Model competition is a bit of fun with a serious message.

“Dog registration is really important because it means we can get lost dogs back to their homes, make sure any dogs causing issues in public spaces can be managed safely, and ensure we’re providing good services and facilities for dog owners and their furry friends.”

Napier has close to 8,000 registered dogs. All dogs must be registered from three-months of age. Registrations are due by 1 July every year.

FINALISTS BIOS:

Ned is a 3-year-old vizsla, and quite small for his age. He was the runt of his litter of 12 and is often asked if he’s still a puppy! Ned is very happy on the lead and loves to meet people. He is enthusiastic, and he knows he is handsome and believes everyone should love him. Vizslas are a high energy breed and his humans love this. They walk or run with Ned every day.

Charlie is a 5-year-old border collie and a wonderful family member. She loves her soccer ball and letting the chickens out of their coop so she has company during the day! She participates in dog agility training and loves competing. She had a serious accident when she was two and had six-months off running but she fully recovered and is back competing.

Hugo is a people dog and happy to be on lead. He loves walks at Napier’s lovely parks with Park Island being one of his favourites. He tells the birds off if they are being noisy and having a tiff with each other! Hugo has a word board with buttons at home that he is learning to use to communicate. His favourite words are “treats”, “play” and “love you”. He can also do some cute tricks like roll over and selfie.

Flint is a dalmatian and part of a litter of 13! He moved from Sydney to Napier two years ago and enjoyed adjusting to the chill lifestyle here. He adores people and making friends, and will grin and show his teeth to people (it's a Dalmatian thing)! Flint loves food, which has made it easy to train him to do tricks like open/close sliding doors, close hinged doors and drawers, spin, shake and speak.

Amber is a much-loved rescue. It was love at first sight for her family of humans who were rewarded with lots of Amber kisses! When she was adopted, it took over three months for Amber to learn what toys were. Amber likes caravaning, river swims and running round with the human grandies. She's gentle and kind and loves nothing more than long runs at the park.

Douglas is a ten-year-old Brussels Griffon. He is quite a character and captures hearts easily. He’s excellent on lead, knows how to sit and lie down on command, and will do a rollover (sometimes)! He was a rescue who came with a few ‘issues’ and took his time settling in and becoming more social and less anxious. He is still scared of loud noises and sudden movements, and flies, which he hides from! Dougie loves car rides, and going to Park Island and Marine Parade.

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