Dogs of all shapes and sizes enjoy the last day of Floriade 2023

Dogs of all shapes and sizes were allowed to attend the festival on Sunday as part of the annual "dogs' day out", which is held on the last day of the festival.

The flowers will be dug up on Monday so it was a chance for dogs to join in the fun and run amok without having to worry too much if flowers would be destroyed.

It was a very social event, with several dog meet-ups organised. Many meet-ups included dogs of the same breed coming together.

Among those was a group of Bernese Mountain dogs. The exceptionally large and incredibly affectionate breed was an attraction at the festival, especially as they were so hard to miss.

Murray Fisher is a breeder of the dogs and organises a social group of Bernese Mountain dog owners. They bring their dogs together a few times a year.

"Floriade has a 'dogs' day out' so we use that as an opportunity to get everyone together and have a walk, have a sit and a few photos," he said.

Many of the Bernese Mountain dogs that came together at the festival were actually related.

"What can you not love, they're very cute, they're big teddy bears," Mr Fisher said.

"A 50-kilo lap dog."

On the other end of the scale was the meet-up of Pomeranians and while they may be only a fraction of the size of bernese mountain dogs they definitely have just as big a personality.

There was a group of 15 Pomeranians who came together, and their owners also plan a year meet-up at Floriade.

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Islay Andrew, a Pomeranian owner, said not only was it a great opportunity to meet up with fellow owners but it was also a fantastic opportunity to spruik the benefits of the breed.

"They are great dogs, we love telling people about them," she said.

There was also a fashion "paw-rade" at the festival and Kaitlin and Lauren Nihill decided to dress up their dogs as Wizard of Oz characters, Dorothy and Toto.

Nala, a Great Dane, was dressed as Dorothy and it was not Nala's first foray into the paw-rade.

The dog dressed up as a unicorn last year and while Nala didn't win, Lauren was more confident about the dog's chances this year. Dorothy's dress was actually a costume made for humans.

"We couldn't find any costumers so we actually bought a human dress," Lauren said.

The bulbs at Floriade will be dug up on Monday with the "great big bulb dig" to take place.

Anybody is able to attend the dig and can fill up a bag with bulbs they can replant in their own gardens for next year.

This year was the 36^th Floriade festival and there were about 1 million plants which flowered across 13 uniquely designed garden beds.

Floriade attendance figures will be released during the week. Last year more than 420,000 visitors attended the festival.

The government set some ambitious growth projections for this year, hoping it would attract more than 500,000 people and generate $60 million for the local economy.

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