Woofstock welcomes Spanish Stray Dogs UK

Woofstock is an annual event geared up to celebrate all things dog with various vendors, food stalls and charities taking part as well as many dog shows and agility courses available to watch and participate in throughout the weekend. As you can guess, this is a dream come true for all us Spanish Stray dogs UK parents (we never miss a chance to show off our Spanish babies and never say no to an opportunity to raise money for such a vital charity that is so close to our hearts.)

We had been looking forward to Woofstock 2019 since Woofstock 2018 finished. We had a new snazzy gazebo, we had some lovely Spanish Stray dog merchandise- mouse mats, Christmas decorations and bags to sell as well as other items that had been donated to us to sell. We were ready to roll and Friday 16^th August couldn’t arrive quick enough.

Friday 16^th August- rain, rain and more rain. The wind was howling (no pun intended), conditions were horrendous and in the end organisers postponed the setting up of all stalls until Saturday morning due to the terrible state the field was in as well as the weather being too bad to do anything. Friday passed in a state of anxious waiting and weather watching from caravans to B&B’s to houses.

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Saturday 17^th August- the rain had stopped. The go ahead was given to allow stalls to be set up. The field was very muddy and soggy. The sky was full of grey menacing clouds, the wind still gale force. We rocked up to the Woofstock field determined to get our gazebo up, our stall out and our message across. Besides, our fur babies had suffered worse than this in their lives before finding a forever home and other Spanish fur babies were still suffering out in Spain. So, with wellies of all colours and descriptions, with rain coats zipped up against the weather we trudged to our spot to set up.

 We fought against the wind and managed to get our gazebo up and pegged down, even our youngest volunteer (aged 4) was determined to make this a success. With the gazebo up we started setting our tables up. Out went our goodies, our dog treats, our human treats, our amazing donations and merchandise. Finally, we were ready.

The clouds began to disappear and with that people began to arrive. One of our volunteers Janet (who organised this whole thing) was interviewed by a Woofstock representative and the whole thing was recorded and then put up on the Woofstock Facebook page- we were all very proud of her especially her little Spanish fur baby Milo who was also there flying the flag for SSD.

The day passed in a blur of activity and laughter. We said hello to lots of different people and lots of lovely doggies. We spent time talking to people about SSD, what we do, the dogs available to adopt and we also made friends with the other vendors.

One of our SSD furry representatives George even tried out the doggie swimming pool! He was very brave and gave it a good old go but I don’t think he was too impressed.

Saturday came to a close and we all said goodnight and went back to our B&B’s and camper vans and homes, tired but happy that we had had such a successful and fun filled doggie themed day. We couldn’t wait for Sunday to do it all again.

Sunday 18^th August- SUNSHINE! We had sunshine! The wind was blowing a little bit but the sun was shining, we were all feeling chirpy from such a busy Saturday and we were raring to go again. More visitors turned up and our message was spread far and wide. We had more people sign up to our monthly lottery and we even had one of the vendors kindly donate a prize to our online auction.

We got the chance to watch a police dog in action in the arena- it was very impressive. We also got to meet more lovely dogs and their humans. The sun shone down and we had a brilliant time, although some of the fur babies did find it a bit exhausting being a SSD ambassador…

All too soon it was time to pack up and go home. The gazebo was taken down, the remaining stock (which wasn’t much) was put away and then it was time to say cheerio to Woofstock 2019 with eyes now turning to Woofstock 2020 and plans to make it even bigger and better for us already forming.

We all had a blast and it was lovely to meet a few SSDUK parents and their fur babies. We can’t wait to do it again next year and who knows, we may even double total amount raised.

Blog written by Emma Caley, Spanish Stray Dogs adopter