Almost 1,000 dogs attended a popular annual swimming event in the UK last weekend, reported The Argus.
Each year, Saltdean Lido in Brighton plays host to a whole load of dogs and their parents on September weekends at the end of the swimming season. There are five sessions a day, giving canines the chance for some real fun in the 80-year-old pool.
It’s the most popular event of the year at Saltdean Lido, and it’s one that’s eagerly awaited by dogs and their parents from all around. Attendees not only come from Brighton and the surrounding area, but as far as Manchester and Sheffield in the north of the country.
Annual Swimming Event – Always Popular
“The dogs are our biggest fundraising event of the year, it’s always very busy. We had more than 950 dogs last weekend,” said organizer Julie Shepherd. “They come from all over the place, it’s amazing. I bumped into two people waiting outside who came with their hairy Newfoundlands, they got the 5 am ferry from the Isle of Wight to come.”
2022 is the sixth year that Saltdean Lido has offered the annual swimming event, and it costs just £8 (around $9.21) per dog or human. It’s so popular that people even come to spectate, and are charged £3 ($3.45) for the privilege. The sessions last for 90 minutes, and there are different sessions for larger and smaller dogs.
Golden Gang
“The feedback is great, we say to people ‘see you next year’ when they leave and they tell us they’re coming back next weekend. That happens quite a lot,” added Julie. “We recently had a group of Golden Retriever owners come along, which was 160 Golden Retrievers all in one session.”
“This just makes me so happy, love that they are all having so much fun,” said one Facebook commenter. “Cycled past on Saturday and stopped to watch the mayhem,” said another, “Hilarious! So much doggy joy!”.
