The fourth Mr Puppy UK was elected in Manchester on 6 October 2018 at the Wruff Stuff Mr Puppy UK 2019 Contest held at Kennel Klub and BarPop.
For the fourth edition of the contest, we returned to Manchester once again: we had such fun there the last time, and the pups of Manchester gave us such a terrific welcome, so we just had to go back! This time, the contest format was streamlined to focus on leadership and personality, as structured performance rounds were dropped in favour of speeches and freestyle performances. More significantly, this year for the first time we invited contestants to propose a community engagement project to undertake during their title year. We thought this would be a good opportunity to encourage a wider focus on the community, and some fun activities to involve more people and raise funds and support for worthy causes. We also introduced e-voting to enable audience members present to vote electronically as well as give feedback on their experience of the contest, and gave each contestant a little more time to engage with the audience. As before, the scoring system focused on leadership qualities and personality traits, as well as engagement with the audience.
Three contestants this year represented the host city of Manchester, and for the first time, we welcomed two pups from Scotland to the contest, joining us from Glasgow.
Hosted by Vivienne Lynsey of Manchester and Piglet of the Mr Puppy Team, the Wruff Stuff Mr Puppy UK 2019 Contest was judged by a panel of five distinguished judges:
- Buumi, Mr Puppy UK 2018
- Steven, Mr Leather UK 2018
- Chris, Mr Rubber UK 2018
- Andron, Mr Puppy Belgium 2018
- Matt, Mr Puppy Europe 2018
- The panel was led by Zentai Spot as Adjudicator
- The voting was supervised by Pup Bolt, London’s official Rubber Dog, as Tally Master.
Nine contestants presented themselves for consideration, and after an exciting two days, the judges were pleased to announce the following results:
- Pup Trumpet of Stoke-on-Trent – Top Prize and Title Award
- Pup Snap of London – Second Prize and Runner-Up
- Pup Kit of Manchester – Third Prize and 2nd Runner-Up
- Bleu Wilde of Manchester – Puppy Congeniality
The Pack of pups that competed in 2018:
- Fennec – Representing Glasgow
- Kit Wilde – Representing the Host City Manchester
- Ruk – Representing Glasgow
- Tron Fox – Representing the Host City Manchester
- Max the Hybrid Pup – Representing London
- Bleu Wilde – Representing the Host City Manchester
- Trumpet – Representing Stoke-on-Trent
- Snap – Representing London
- Barkley – Representing London