Dachshund to dobermann, samoyed to spaniel, from Denmark to Sweden, 2,106 dogs and at least 4,000 people descended on Killarney yesterday for the annual south Kerry leg of the Munster circuit of the Irish Kennel Club championship dog show.
This year the Killarney All-breed Show, organised for over a quarter of a century by the Killarney and District Canine Club, was awarded full membership of the prestigious European kennel club body, the FCI.
This means that dogs from the continent could compete with dogs from Kerry and the UK, a traditional competitor, for green and gold rosettes in the church grounds alongside St Mary's cathedral.
Cathy and Mick Cooper from Galway won their sixth green star for best-of-breed for their "Bracco-Italiano" hound called Diva.
Diva, a striking looking 19-month-old cream and beige animal straight from a renaissance hunting painting, competed in the pointer class.
Cooper said not all shows had a category for Diva because she was a class apart.
"These were ancient dogs, bred by the Medici - that's why we called her Diva."
One more star and Diva will be the first ever Bracco-Italiano Irish champion.
It was not always easy to see who was leading whom around the competition pens yesterday as anxious owners ran with their dogs before judges who had arrived from Serbia to Brittany.
Size, coat, build and personality (the dog's) were factors in deciding who won the awards.
The dog show means that all self-catering accommodation friendly to dogs in the Killarney area is booked out for the week, according to organisers.
German shepherds, dobermann pinschers and other breeds recently put on a banned list by Dublin City Council were "definitely" welcome and on show in Killarney yesterday, the man at the information desk said.
"There is no such thing as a bad dog, only bad owners," he said.
While only pure breeds were shown, all dogs can join the Irish Kennel Club providing they are registered and micro-chipped.
The man at the information desk told one lady who inquired how she might go about showing her dog that the organisation now offered training programmes in good citizenship for dogs.
