crooked tongues magazine News Features

Just in time for Crufts, we decided to have a Crooked Tongues dog show. We actually wanted to do one for our Best in Show event at NikeTown back in 2007, but it got shot down as an idea in seconds. Recently, we had a conversation in the office that dogs actually wear Nikes better than most people festooning foot shots with hashtags. So we did it via Instagram last week, just for the fun of it. It's worth noting that we're not the first to encourage canines to break out their deadstock gems — Kicksonfire have been doing #dogsinkicks for a minute, so we respect the originators. We find dogs wearing sports footwear really, really funny. Going by the followers we shed over the last 48 hours, maybe some people don't, but we're obsessed.

Why did we do it on Instagram and not the Today I'm Wearing section of the site, Twitter and Facebook? Because we thought we might get shut down by our overlords for perceived animal cruelty. Why dogs and not cats? Have you ever tried to put Jordans on a cat? We have, and we've got the scars that look like self-harm to prove it.

The whole shoe realm is too miserable and po-faced right now — we'll take a Shar Pei in Huaraches or PUMAs over some human mean-mugging while holding some godawful reflective piece of crap, so we thought our self-indulgence might have some wider appeal. Here's the entries we gathered from our #dogsinshoes #crookedtongues hashtags — each has the Instagram user's name on it.

We're genuinely deadlocked in the office on who should win, so we're open to your suggestions as part of the vote. Put your username of choice in the comments below and we'll decide some winners.

So, yo, hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, Instagram or via the forum with your favourite and we'll count the votes and add them to ours. It's not about the Photoshopping or picture quality - it's down to how well a hound can rock a shoe.

1st prize is £150 store credit and dog treats, 2nd prize is £75 store credit and dog treats while 3rd place gets £50 store credit and dog treats. When we looked into those dogs' eyes, we knew we couldn't leave it at one winner.

Thank you to all our entrants. If you think you've been omitted, let us know (we're aware that Instagram searches aren't entirely exhaustive) and if your Instagram name is wrong, holler. The Kennel Club really needs to make this an arena event. Good luck to everyone and their furry friends...