At long last did the show season start. New Town Carnival wasn’t strictly a dog show — it wasn’t a test of adherence to breed specifications and it was open to felines too — but pet lovers lapped up the excuse to play with and click pictures with man’s best friends.

“My dog had no handler for eight months during the lockdown and since the Kennel Club of India has cancelled all pointed shows this season he is missing the action,” said Diptiman Sengupta, who had come with Diesel, a Golden Retriever with an enviable coat. “This carnival is a great idea, at least the dogs get to stay in practise.”

Fashion on four legs

Sweety, the Persian cat flaunts a floral headgear. Shukraditya Bose

The event had pets and their owners walking down a red carpet to showcase how obedient the pets were, how well groomed they were and also how well dressed they were.

Puchkai, the Shih Tzu, paraded in a purple sweater knitted by owner Pritha Roy Sarkar. “Now that I’m done with Puchkai’s sweater, I shall start knitting one for my daughter,” laughed Pritha later, while picking up a prize for grooming.

A Labrador with funky goggles

Google, the Siberian Husky who bagged the prize for obedience, wowed with a bandana that had his name on. “I got it printed from Presto,” smiled Mousumi Das of Salt Lake’s EC Block. Google’s popularity preceded him and many a visitor went and asked Mousumi if he was indeed the Husky who played in FD Park in the afternoons. “Some even asked if I lived in Google’s house,” she laughed.

Pixel, the Beagle, walked in an attractive yellow jacket with Tom and Jerry motifs. In fact Madhurika Modani offered him a treat in front of the judges that made the scent hound stand on two legs for it. The audience broke into cheers.

Fun with felines

Hats off to Deboleena Majumder who had come with — not one, not two, not three but — four pets out of which two were cats. She had dressed them all differently. “Himu, the Himalayan cat, is wearing a hat and galis pants and Sweety, the Persian cat is wearing a frock with a floral hair band,” smiled the Salt Lake CD Block resident before walking in with them.

Aditri Tarafder, a nine-year-old from Kankurgachi, walked with her cat Billy. “He was a little nervous so I carried him,” she said about the cat she adopted a year ago after he was abandoned by his mother.

“I have a Lovebird named Sunshine but didn’t get him as this show isn’t open for birds,” said Aditri’s friend Mohona Sengupta. “I love dogs too but am allergic to them. I guess I’ll be OK playing with them today since I have a mask on,” she said, embracing her friend Srinika Dasgupta’s Husky Frozzo.

A memorable moment was when Rik Ganguli Biswas held his two month old kitten up to the world in a scene straight out of The Lion King. The rest of the time Miffy stayed put on his shoulder. “If you fall off, Miffy, you’ll be dinner for some dog here!” warned Rik’s mother Runa.

Side shows

A Spitz yawns at the end of the exciting day

Beagle puppy Enzo kept slipping out of his harness and running to eat anything that lay on the ground, keeping Avijoy Biswas on his toes. “He eats everything but what we give him,” laughed the college student. “We have all lost weight running after him.”

Glen, the black Lab, was a bit of a runaway too when he slipped out of Shamik Poddar’s hands and ran to Shamik’s fiance Madhuwanti Goswami.

Mayo, a Spitz, jumped off the fountain ledge she was resting on and barked at it profusely when it suddenly got turned on and started spraying water on her. And Duggu, the English Cream Retreiver, had a bleeding paw somehow but the Animel Planet crew (that was organising the show) rushed in with first aid.

There was also participation by a few “Indie” dogs, much to the cheer of Shrddhaa, who runs an animal adoption centre called Shrddhaaz Adoption. “These days a lots of pedigreed dogs are getting abandoned in New Town but hopefully awareness can be raised for pet owners to have a heart,” said the IT sector employee who has four homes, each full of animals awaiting families.

Show stoppers

Rottweiler Chicaboo dressed as a groom looking for a bride

Some rare breeds set the cameras ablaze, like Sumit Dutt’s Cane Corso, Choco, and Rahul Chowdhury’s Alaskan Malamute, Rustom. The audience gasped collectively as Rustom walked the ramp with a mane and attitude no less than that of a lion. “They are friendly and obedient,” said owner Rahul. “I have Huskies too and they have a mind of their own but Malamutes can be trained.”

And then came Chicaboo, the showstopper of the ramp walk. The Rottweiler was dressed — not in clothes or hair bands — but a topor and garland. He walked in with

Souvik Chakravarti and was accompanied by a board that read “Bharat Pet-rimony”. The dog was scouting for a bride!

The board had Chicaboo’s bio-data in brief, where his profession was mentioned as stand-up comedian and hobbies included destroying furniture and stealing shoes. “A hundred people must have come to click pictures with him today,” said

Souvik. “They can’t believe a Rottweiler can be so friendly. It’s very important to us that he be kind and gentle.” The search for the bride, by the way, is still on.

Officialspeak

The carnival was held under the New Town Kolkata Development Authority banner and chairman Debashis Sen welcomed everyone to the festivities.

Judges included fashion designer Mamika De, Anvita Singh Kumar who has over 26,000 followers on the Instagram account she runs for her Labradors Brad and Pitt, and Satarupa Bose, an avid dog lover. All loved the ambience and appreciate the platform for so many pet lovers to meet.

“The dog shows that take place around town have become commercial and get hijacked by breeders. We wanted a fun day for people who love their pets as members of their family,” said Tapan Gupta of Animel Planet, which has branches across Salt Lake and New Town.