Help needed for doggy stall ideas.

[TreacherousPissFlap]

Our village holds an annual dog show, it's always very well attended and a good time is generally had by all.

We're hoping that DS and his friend may be allowed a fundraising stall at the event (they are fundraising for an expedition)

Owing to lots of complicated village bureaucracy their normal fundraising activities are a no go, so we've alighted on the brainwave of a doggie stall.

Initially we've come up with homemade dog biscuit, possibly deer antlers (we have a source and I believe that boiling them to sterilise them is all that's required, I'm happy to be put straight if not though)

DS thinks a doggy lucky dip would be fun, I see it could be but haven't come up with any sort of logistics for it. Possibly a raffle for a hamper. Bandanas or some sort of collar charms.

What would you like to see and what would you spend money on? Any advice would be gratefully received

How about ‘guess the weight of our dog’ or (if mixed breed) ‘guess the breeds in our dog’?
Maybe also sell dog shaped biscuits (both for humans and ones for dogs).

Ooh, we've got three dogs so could do the combined weight, that's a great idea!

Human biscuits will I fear unfortunately fall under the WI catering embargo

There is a dog fete/fun show in our town every year, run by local vets. Our dog's favourite is the bobbing for 'apples'. It's a paddling pool full of different coloured balls. The colour ball your dog gets equates to a particular prize. Blue = toy, red = chew, green = dentastix etc.

I think homemade dog biscuits in fun shapes are always a hit. Also people love things that are 'hand made' 'organic' etc. I bought some turkey ones at our farmers market last Christmas. They were different Christmas shapes in cellophane bags with ribbons.

One more idea is a doggy pic n mix. Have baskets of single low cost items laid out - tennis balls, cheap squeaky toys, poo bag dispensers, various treats and chews etc. Have bags or little baskets for people to make their selection and charge a flat rate per item.

Bobbing for hot dog pieces is always very popular at dog things I go to (dog does the bobbing obv), dog biscuits, pup cake, bandanas (I find ones with prints like Star Wars do a lot better than generic).

If theres room, fastest dog over a series of small jumps in a straight line does well at local events with a prize for the fastest in small/medium/large

Fill a big jar with dog treats and people have to guess how many to the prize.

Are they handy with a sewing machine - or could they become so? Doggy bandanas are very simple to make and can be made from fabric offcuts, if they can find someone who has such things!

Some sort of doggy activity if they can get the space - a temptation alley for instance, with a fee for entry and a prize for winners.

A doggy lucky dip where the dog itself has to dig through woodshavings to choose their own prize.

I don't use antlers but I think there's something about splitting them lengthways?

I'm sorry to say that I always avoid the homemade dog biscuits as they're bound to contain lots of grain! Some people seem to like them though.

*win the prize

I’d contact all the local walkers and groomers, day care, portrait artists, photographers and see if they’ll offer vouchers for your raffle. Lucky dog dip is a great idea, food you can’t go wrong.

Amazing, thanks!

I don't think we'd be able to set up lanes etc, the event is strictly dogs on leads.

I'm still awaiting the go ahead, but if we get it then I can see there is a lot of potential

We just went to one and this was so popular!

"Find the sausage"

A pended off area perhaps 4x4m with plastic plant tubs x5 and then hide a cocktail sausage under one whilst doggy's not looking then let him in to find it.

It was 50p each and it permanently had a queue all day and was so funny to watch. My dog just laid down 🤣

Bobbing for hot dogs sounds like great fun Just make sure to enforce a rule about only dogs from the same household being able to participate at the same time, to minimise the chances of any scraps breaking out

We are suckers for gourmet dog treats, every country show type thing we visit ends up with months worth of treats! Be wary of costs though as weather can really alter turnout and also they need to fully disclose why they are raising funds - whilst plenty of people will be impressed by young people actively working to make money, others do not approve of these voluntourism projects so word carefully, avoid use of charity type expressions and emphasis them earning their own income to fund it

Thanks stuck, we are on the last leg of fundraising now and the village as a whole has been amazingly supportive, so they're all aware what it's for.

They're actually going with a local expeditionary society rather one of the "Camps International" type trips. This has also helped their fundraising as the society is well known as being the antithesis of voluntourism- I'm not sure DS is quite aware of that yet