By QueenEsther Iroanusi
Dog lovers in Nigeria travelled from far and wide over the weekend to the Lagos Dog Festival, where pooches of all shapes and sizes took centrestage.
The carnival was held to encourage pet ownership in the country, where dogs are often bred for their meat.
According to Reuters, the dogs were dressed up in colourful outfits and made to parade the red carpets at the festival.
It wouldn’t be a dog festival without a best-in show, and some of the talented winners included American Eskimos, Neapolitans, French bulldogs, a Siberian husky and American Staffordshire terrier.
The organiser of the Lagos Dog Festival, now in its fourth year, Jackie Idimogu, said the show was aimed at debunking stereotypes of Africans mistreating dogs.
She expressed satisfaction at how Nigerians are beginning to understand the love language of the animals and to understand that dogs are not meant to be bred as guards alone.
Pasha, a six-year-old Caucasian shepherd mix, was crowned dog of the year. He wore black sunglasses and a matching red and black scotch outfit with his owner Hadiza Saidu.
“I chose red because it is vibrant, it is royalty, it is majestic just like him,” said Saidu, in line with this year’s theme, “splashes of colours”.
While Panda, a black poodle-mix breed, won the “princess in pink” award for her bright outfit and the prize of “green with envy” went to Ela, an American Eskimo dog, for her floral dress.
