Tiny Dog Festival is open now for registration
Tiny dogs only, capped at 120, costume parade non-negotiable. The festival that accidentally became annual is open now for registration.
The Tiny Dog Festival started in 2020 as a one-off pandemic-era community event. It was supposed to be ten dogs in a yard. Eighty-six dogs turned up. The organisers ran out of name tags by 11am. It has happened every year since, which is what we suspect happens with most things in Bowen Hills, somebody does it once and then it accidentally becomes a tradition.
Tiny dogs only. Strictly enforced. Under ten kilos at the gate, weighed if there is any doubt, no exceptions. The reason for the rule is purely practical: the smaller dogs spend most of community events nervously wedged between a giant labrador and a kelpie, and this gives them a day where they get to be the centre of attention.
The schedule
Registration runs from 10am to 10.30am. You weigh your dog, you collect a name tag, you sign the volunteer waiver. The first event is a slow group walk around the perimeter at 10.45am, which usually takes twenty minutes because somebody always wants to stop and sniff.
Eleven o'clock is the first official "event", which is a pace race over fifty metres. Pace race meaning slowest dog wins. The current record for slowest is a dachshund mix named Pickle who took seventeen minutes and wandered off four times.
Lunch break runs from noon. There is a coffee cart, a sausage stall (for the humans), and a small stall selling biscuits in dog-and-human flavours. The dogs nap. The owners chat. It is the calmest the venue gets all year.
Afternoon programme is the costume parade at 1pm and the agility-on-easy-mode course at 2pm. Costumes are optional but participation has been close to ninety per cent since 2022. Last year's winner was a chihuahua dressed as a small accountant.
Wrap is at 3pm. Most people stay until 3.30pm because the venue has good coffee and nobody is in a hurry.
Tickets and details
Tickets are open now. Twenty dollars per dog, which covers a goody bag with treats and a name-tag, plus a contribution to the small-dog rescue charity that runs the day.
Limited to one hundred and twenty dogs. We strongly suggest registering early. The 2024 event sold out a week before the date and a small number of latecomers turned up assuming they could just walk in. The volunteers had to send them home.
Bring water, bring a small towel, bring a soft carry bag for nervous dogs who need a quiet break mid-event. The volunteers have a "calm tent" set up in the corner for any dogs that need to step away from the crowd, which is more useful than it sounds.
Read next
The current edition of the dog calendar is over at Dogs Day Out. The general events page is what's on, and dog-friendly Saturday eating is on the food-truck roster. For dog walkers, vets and other dog-related local services we vouch for, see The Local List.