How exciting to meet with over 120 dog colleagues from about 20 countries. From as far away as Ecuador, we assembled in Dortmund, Germany with the shared goal of developing collaborations to tackle the most important issues in dog health. Such a great demonstration of the international nature of dog interest and confirmation that issues of dog health are truly global.

The VDH (German Kennel Club) did a fantastic job with organization and everyone was impressed with the venue, the food...everything. The singing of the soccer enthusiasts coming from Signal Iduna Park, Friday night couldn't be controlled, but that just added to the local colour.

It was clear that the participants embraced the concept of the IDHWs...i.e. short plenary talks and then, to work, in collaborative workshops. Exciting for us at DogWellNet was that the delegates were really excited about the potential for the IPFD and this platform to support ongoing international efforts. In fact, the list of suggested topics and actions is pretty long! Over the next weeks the talks and results will be posted both on the VDH website and here on DogWellNet. We will be prioritizing the actions, based on our resources and volunteers. It is exciting for us to facilitate the sharing of information and the work of all these accomplished and committed persons who want to take an active role in enhancing dog health, well-being and welfare.

Thanks so much to our German colleagues for doing such a great job hosting this event. Thanks to the IPFD Board who were there in full force. Thanks to all the participants for all their interest, enthusiasm, expertise, creative ideas and energy. Now, we must all work together to keep up the momentum as we move towards the 3rd IDHW in France in early 2017.