PESHAWAR: Around 70 pet animals took part in a show organised by young volunteers here on Sunday to encourage love for animals and take pride in them as pets, however, it proved more than that.

The show was held at a private university by Team Discover Yourself to let animal lovers gather to display their pets. However, it was noticed how bad it could get when an ill-disciplined owner of a pet is allowed in such a show.

The pet show somehow also exhibited that lack of discipline in human beings could affect their pets. During the show, one poodle was injured when a German shepherd attacked him. At one instance, a black German shepherd got loose and one of the judges had to help catch him.

Despite a large number of participants with different and some rare breeds of dogs of all sizes and colour, parrots and even Persian cats of different colours were a joy to look at -- discipline was what was lacking among organisers, participants and ultimately it also got transferred into the participating pets.

In the middle of the show an irritated German shepherd nabbed tail of a constantly barking hound whose owner was busy in talking by his mobile phone.

The young organisers were playing songs and also speaking so loudly through the microphone that it had become unbearable. Dogs and cats also looked anxious when the show prolonged and finally it resulted in an attack on a poodle.

Amid all this, Dr Sareer from Mardan with four of his Turkish Kangal, rare dog breed in Pakistan, tried to remain calm. “The male is named Sher Khan and the female is called Gul Panrha (also famous Pashto singer’s name),” he said while introducing two of his dogs.

He said that such pet shows should be held as it created awareness among people about importance of having a loving pet.

Dr Javed Ali, one of the judges at the show and a veterinary surgeon from Agricultural University Peshawar, said that they observed behaviour, grooming and many other aspects of the pets taking part in the show. The quality of the pet animals in Peshawar may not be the best but still such shows should be held more often to encourage pet owners to groom and train their dogs for such events.

“It was a good effort. There was some management issue but it could be improved,” said Dr Javed.

Ali, whose pet Simba took part in the show, enjoyed it. He said that he was feeling good to see so many pets but lack of training was visible.

Rage, a black and white American Pit Bull with her owner Jannat was also noticed by many dog lovers at the show and people took selfies with her.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2017