Huge Turnout for This Year's Chiswick House Dog Show

Cricket pitch packed with dogs, their owners and a host of celebrities

(Left) Michael Ball with Bonnie Langford. Right: Best in Show Amira with Michael Ball and owner Sonja Humphries

September 28, 2023

This Sunday (24 September) saw the cricket pitch in Chiswick House Gardens packed with dogs and their owners for the 19 th Chiswick House Dogs Show.

They were accompanied by a host of celebrity judges with regulars Neil Dudgeon of Midsomer Murders and Harriet Thorpe, the new landlady of the Queen Vic, joined by Leslie Nicol, Oliver Peyton, Hannah Waddingham, Andy Nyman, Alistair Petrie and Maria Kesselman.

Michael Ball and Bonnie Langford judged the “My Dog’s Got Talent” and helped pick the “Best in Show 2023,” which was won by Amira.

Each year the show has a ‘theme’ and this year it was the 60th anniversary of Dogtor Who which meant that some of the celebrity judges had appeared in the long running BBC TV series. One in particular, Bonnie Langford, is also a star of the forthcoming 2024 Dr Who – and she was joined by actors, Kevin McNally, Adam James, Sara Stewart and long-time Ealing resident, John Leeson (the original voice of K9!).

It is the nineteenth time this community event, which is organised by Chiswick House Friends, has been held and it has gathered a huge following with people travelling great distances to visit the show.

Aside from the 18 classes, which are held in 3 rings, it also has 70 different stalls – commercial, charity and catering – as well as the Dogs Trust ever-more-popular Doggy Dash, manned by the staff and volunteers from the Dogs Trust’s Harefield branch.

An innovation this year – a ‘Dog’Bola was held - with an array of prizes being donated by the stallholders and local businesses.

Chiswick residents Kevin McNally and Neil Dudgeon trying to choose 'Handsomest Dog 2-4 years'

Hannah Waddingham and Alistair Petrie judging 'Best Youngster Bith 1-2 years

Harriet Thorpe judging 'Fancy Dress of Adults and Dog' with John Leeson

185 volunteers of all ages helped make the event possible with some there for the whole day starting with setting up and others pitching in for a few hours for tasks such as, traffic management, helping on Registration, working on the bar, pho’dog’raphy in the rings, marshalling the judges, being a steward in a ring, litter-picking, or helping to dismantle and pack away all the Dog Show gazebos and equipment.

The video below by Julie Ritson highlights the work done by volunteers.

The show is organised by a committee of 12 dog-loving locals volunteers, all of whom regularly walk their dogs in the gardens of Chiswick House, and funds raised from the Dog Show go towards the maintenance and upkeep of these grounds – as well as to other ‘dog-related’ projects within the grounds. Over the years they have provided funds for doggy bag dispensers, a golf-buggy for the ranger, railings around the cricket pavilion as well as the “humans only” area, hoggin paths, upkeep and refurbishment of the dog poo bins, as well as general maintenance of the shrubs and trees to keep the environment safe for the people who walk their dogs there.

The 2023 winners in each category were as follows:

To find out more about the Dog Show, visit its website.