Me and My Dog

Chris Packham introduces the grand finale of this canine competition which begins with a test of the dogs' intelligence.

Chris Packham introduces the grand finale of this canine competition which begins with a test of the dogs' intelligence.

At first sight it's a slightly odd task, with the dogs being shown a picture of a toy which they then have to pick up or indicate out of a choice of four. Can dogs even recognise two-dimensional images?

Actually, the dogs do OK – or maybe just get lucky and sniff the right one – it’s kind of hard to tell.

After that it’s on to the big final triathlon, which is a 2km bike ride, a 100m swim and a 1.5km run.

It’s a close-run event, although this sweet four-part competition was never really about winning – it was all about celebrating brilliant canines and their remarkable relationships with their owners, which it does in spades.