The scruffiest, waggiest and fastest pooches were gathered at the Orange Showground on Sunday for the Dogs in the Park Festival.
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Event manager Chris Boswell has been running the event since 2016 but said this was the first time it's been held in Orange since the start of the COVID pandemic so he was expecting a big crowd.
He said there were no similar events on in Orange and there has been demand for something to be held and it's not just people from Orange who were interested.
"We've got people from the south coast coming and people from Richmond," Mr Boswell said.
Mr Boswell takes the event to various regional and urban centres and said he employs young local staff at each place to help them get skills and experience they need to enter the workforce.
He said the dog races are the most popular of the events, which also included competitions for scruffiest pooch, waggiest dog tail, dog got trick talent competition, dachshund races, golden bone dog races as well as high jump, tunnel dog races, fancy dress, cutest dog, cutest puppy and best in show.
Arno the miniature schnauzer came third in the waggiest tail competition where his enthusiasm was overshadowed by Labrador Bunji.
He came to Sunday's event with owners Vanessa and Rob Willis and fellow miniature schnauzer Mitzi.
"We've had [mini schnauzers] before and they are really intelligent and easy to train," Mr Willis said.
"They don't shed fur and are all around a great dog."
"The last two we had, one lived to 16 and the other was just over 14," Mrs Willis added.
Miniature dachshunds Penny and son Zorro owned by Sam Strudwick also competed.
Miss Strudwick said she liked the dachshund personalities and described them as being great lapdogs or dogs around the house or in the yards.
The breed can develop back problems from over feeding or jumping from high places but as long as that's prevented from occurring, Miss Strudwick said the dogs, which were originally bred for hunting badgers, are fast and active.
Penny proved that at the last Dogs in the Park Festival in 2019 when she came second in the dachshund race and won the golden bone race.
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