CORBETT Gardens was filled with four-legged friends yesterday for Tulip Time's Dogs Day Out.
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In a Tulip Time first, pooches were allowed to tip toe through the tulips with their owners.
Dogue Country Retreat for dogs sponsored the Dog's Day Out and animal behaviourist Vicki Austin kept crowds entertained with her presentations.
Look-a-like, best trick and best dressed competitions were popular and Destination Southern Highlands group manager Steve Rosa said hundreds of dogs came through the gates.
"It's a new initiative which we will look to consider next year," Mr Rosa said.
"It worked really well with our charity partner Guide Dogs ACT/NSW and hundreds of locals have brought their dogs to the gardens."
He said it was good to see the community getting involved with the region's key tourism event.
Wingecarribee Animal Shelter staff were on hand to talk to people about the cats and dogs waiting for homes in the shelter and for residents to check their pets microchip details were up to date.
The RSPCA had a van on site to teach children about responsible pet ownership, microchips and more.
RSPCA education manager Steph Sok said it was "non-stop" all day.
"We've had lots of kids through learning about what vets do, what animals need and about the programs we run in the community," she said.
Mr Rosa said finals numbers for Tulip Time weren't in yet, but it appeared that 2014 might be on par with the record numbers from 2012.
"We're looking at about 33,000 people this year," he said.
"Tulip Time has normally run over the long weekend but we brought it forward this year after a number of warmer winters so the festival has been 13 days instead of 14."
He said conditions had been perfect and the council gardeners had done a terrific job.
"We couldn't have asked for better weather for Tulip Time this year. The weather gods have given us a treat."
The street fair over the weekend proved to be popular with plenty of people taking advantage of the local produce on offer. On Saturday afternoon, musicians entertained patrons in Corbett Gardens with The Voice's Rachael Leahcar the star attraction.
