Forget cat-walks, the continent's most beautiful dogs were finally paraded at the European Dog Show 2021 in Budapest.

It's one of the world's biggest canine events but had to be canceled in 2019 and 2020 due to the pandemic. This year's event had been in limbo for a long time, with organizers originally hoping to hold it earlier this year.

"Until the last minute, it was questionable whether we could organize this event," President of the Hungarian Dog breeders' Association Andras Korozs tells CGTN.

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But they decided they would push ahead with it despite rising cases of COVID-19 across Europe.

"We monitored the epidemic data on a daily basis – out of the 20,000 to 22,000 dogs entering the competitions, 80 to 90 percent will turn up for this four-day event," says Korozs.

"There is a huge international interest, with dog people from 57 countries coming to participate,"

To ensure safety, visitors are only able to enter the venue with a COVID-19 negative PCR test or an immunity certificate.

For some people, their four-legged friends have been valuable company during the pandemic and periods of quarantine, which is why many more people around the world have recently become dog owners.

"The number of registered dogs has increased dramatically and is still growing. We see a yearly increase of 4,000 to 5,000 registered pups just in Hungary. Many people were looking for puppies during the pandemic. A lot of them thought that they needed to be able to get out of the house with a dog to go for a walk," says Breatrix Arkossy, a dog breeder.

However, dog experts warn that ownership is a huge responsibility, not just for the duration of the pandemic, but for life. They have warned against leaving dogs alone all day and ensuring they are taken out often to give them the best possible care.

The European Dog Show will run until December 31, 2021.