- It hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but this event certainly set a new record.
It’s always fun when a bunch of dogs gets together for a play date. Recently, however, Argentina took the concept to a frankly ridiculous level.
A group of people, led by social media influencer Fausto Duperré, decided to set a new world record. They wanted to get as many golden retrievers in one place as possible.
They certainly succeeded. In early December, nearly 2,400 dogs descended upon a park in central Buenos Aires.
If that sounds to you like it’ll just result in chaos, well, it kind of did. Not in a bad way, though — both the dogs and their owners had a fantastic day meeting and playing with each other.
“I am truly grateful and happy, proud, excited, and overjoyed, all at once,” Duperré commented on the event.
It will take some time for Guinness World Records to officially verify the record. But there’s little doubt that this is the largest golden retriever meeting ever.
The Biggest Gathering of Them All
The mastermind of the event, dubber the Golden Wave, is Fausto Duperré. He’s an enterprising 28-year-old who has, among others things, had minor acting roles and run a café in Buenos Aires.
However, he’s best known for his social media presence. He runs an Instagram account where he documents his life with his 10-year-old golden retriever, Oli.
A few years ago, Duperré attended a golden retriever owners’ meeting in Barcelona, Spain. That gathering brought together 150 dogs.
That’s an impressive number of pooches already. But the event planted a seed in Duperré’s mind: could he organize something bigger?
Together with his friend, Flavia Fittipaldi, Duperré started organizing golden retriever meet-ups and researching the largest such events held. The two found out that, so far, the world’s largest golden retriever meeting took place in Vancouver, Canada, with around 1,600 pups.
However, that record has never been officially verified. With that, Duperré and Fittipaldi had a number they could aim to beat.
Planning and Organization
Organizing a gather of more than 1,600 dogs, however, is no small task. To begin with, they needed a public space large enough to accommodate the enormous number of excitable dogs.
Duperré and Fittipaldi identified the Bosques de Palermo park in central Buenos Aires as a suitable venue. Much to their surprise, the authorities loved the idea of a giant dog meetup and gave them permission to host the event in the park — cost-free.
“They said that as long as we left everything in perfect conditions, there was nothing to be done. It was just go and enjoy,” Fittipaldi told NPR.
Next, they had to let people know about the event. Fortunately, Duperré’s social media activities helped with that and the news spread like a wildfire.
As the number of people saying they’d attend kept growing, another issue reared its head. Some of them couldn’t get hotel rooms, so where would the people sleep?
Duperré and Fittipaldi found out that golden retriever owners are ready to help each other.
“People volunteer. Like, I have a house. Come with your dogs. … So that was really nice,” Fittipaldi said.
A Great Day for All
Finally, the big day dawned on December 8. From early in the morning, dog owners and their pooches started trickling into the park.
The event was nothing short of a smashing success. People from all over Argentina came to the park, some traveling hundreds of miles to attend.
The dogs played together, the people met new friends, and cameras went off every few seconds to immortalize the occasion. Many attendees had dressed their dogs in various costumes. Some sported the jersey of Argentina’s football team, while others had donned outfits from popular media.
Between the crowds of dogs and people, Duperré, Fittibaldi, and eight other volunteers slithered around to register every single dog in attendance. It was no easy task, but finally they had a tally.
Altogether, they counted 2,397 golden retrievers. It’s no wonder local media reported that the barking carried for miles around.
Duperré has now submitted the event to Guinness World Records for confirmation. The process will take some time, but the man has no doubt that they will get the official recognition.
“I’m telling you right now, the record is Argentinian,” Duperré said.
If you’d like to read more about unusual dog meet-ups, here’s a story about a play date between the world’s tallest and shortest dog.