Gurgaon, Nov 22 (IANS) For you dog lovers, here’s an event not to be missed. In December more than 1,000 canines from all over the world will rub tails, oops shoulders, with each other at the FCI International Dog Show here.With participation from Britain, Iran, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Pakistan, besides India, the Dec 20-21 competition, as the organisers claim, will be the biggest of its kind in the world. As many as 75 breeds will take part.

“This is the 7th edition of the FCI and unlike the ealier competitions where there have been 100-300 entries, this time it is 1,000. It will be the biggest dog show in the world,” Shharath Sharma of the Kennel Club of India, the organiser of the show, told IANS.

FCI is a Brussels-based federation of clubs which oversees dog shows and approves judges for the same. They regularly conduct this competition in each of their 150 member countries, including India.

Among the 75 breeds of canines that the show will see are the pug, labrador, boxer, dachshund smooth hair, Afghan hound, caravan hound, chippiparai, combai, Irish wolfhound, rajapalayam, saluki, whippet, German shepherd, Welsh corgi, basset hound, beagle and dalmatian.

According to Sharma, 50-75 entries in the show will be from outside India.

“The competition will however not see the dogs doing any tricks. They will be judged by six international judges on such factors like coat size, temperament, agility and the likes as per the standard set by the FCI,” Sharma said.

“We are expecting 12,000-15,000 footfalls in the competition. We will also give free passes to schoolchildren,” he added.

Although 35 percent of owners of these dogs are professional groomers and dog handlers, Sharma said the rest are regular people who own dogs. For more information on the competition, log on to www.dogspot.in