Newsletter 1 September 2016

Second edition of FCI’s dog walk in Thuin: again, a huge success !

In the afternoon of 7 August, the FCI organised their second dog walk, in collaboration with the Tourism Office. During the week preceding this Sunday excursion, we wondered about the weather doing us an ill turn, but finally we enjoyed a nice day, neither rainy, nor too hot!

More than one hundred participants gathered, most of them accompanied by their four-legged friend, to take the walk on a stroll through the streets of Thuin, its historic centre and its hanging gardens.

This year, we had a wonderful surprise for those who did not come with a dog: our partner, the SPA of Charleroi (Animal Protection Society), was kind enough to join us with 8 dogs the participants could take for a walk with them! How cute it was to see how delighted both doggies and candidates to adoption, even if for only an afternoon, were to meet and spend a few hours together, wandering around the nice city which hosts our federation’s headquarters.

After meeting up at the place Albert 1^er, our guides Swamini and Virginie led this happy procession, divided into two groups, to the FCI’s premises, directly opposite the Belfry. It is there – in front of the offices of the largest canine federation in the world – that the sculpture of the Belgian Shepherd Dog stands guard, the Malinois, a gift from the FCI to the city of Thuin created by the Belgian artist Luc de Blick.

The guides recalled that on 26 April 2011, Thuin’s Municipal College decided to turn Thuin into the World Capital of Dogs, thus focusing attention on the City, the Mecca of dog lovers, and offering the world a positive and instructive showcase for knowledge, projects, initiatives, research and other discoveries concerning the dog, for it occupies an important place in today’s society.

During the next stop-off in the courtyard of the extension of FCI’s HQ, a local, FCI-recognised breeder of Jack Russell Terriers and Parson Russell Terriers gave a talk about dog breeding and how the FCI contributes to it.

Everyone then moved on to a place called Chant des Oiseaux where L’Ecole Technique Cynophile, faithful supporters of our events, provided a presentation on the basic principles of dog dressage, with a practical demonstration of the main steps and key-moments.

We would like to thank Eukanuba and Transgroom for their support and the small presents they provided for the dogs: they enjoyed them!

The experience, from now on annual, will be repeated in 2017: we are already working on this and are putting together more surprises… We are counting on your presence next August, follow our Facebook page for alerts!

Marie Luna Durán
Marketing and Public Relations Manager

Our partners on 7 August 2016

Our partners on 7 August 2016

Office du Tourisme de Thuin Asbl

Ecole Technique Cynophile

SPA de Charleroi

Transgroom

Eukanuba