NEIGH there – you re meant to bark, not whinny... just remember, you re supposed to be a dog. A pony is hoping to gatecrash a 24 hour dog grooming marathon by disguising itself as a Dalmatian. And as organisers rumbled his owners at a dress rehearsal, the

NEIGH there - you're meant to bark, not whinny... just remember, you're supposed to be a dog.

A pony is hoping to gatecrash a 24 hour dog grooming marathon by disguising itself as a Dalmatian.

And as organisers rumbled his owners at a dress rehearsal, they admitted they planned to turn a blind eye because they couldn't find enough dogs.

Staff and students on the College of West Anglia's NVQ dog grooming course are staging the sponsored round-the-clock shampoo and set session to raise money to buy vets' supplies for an animal shelter in Turkey. They had originally hoped to get their names in the Guinness Book of World Records.

But COWA course director Jayne Marchant said when they checked, they found the world record for animal grooming was held by a group of Australian vets, who had groomed more than 800 animals in eight hours.

"I reckon all those vets were sheep shearers and all the dogs were dingoes," she said. "We just haven't got 848 dogs in Wisbech so we're having a go for the individual record. And we might have to sneak the odd pony in."

Welsh pony, Dancer's owner Alyson Saunders was still perfecting her Dalmatian disguise yesterday. She admitted rain could cause problems with the water-based paint used to provide her spots.

"She's going to try to sneak in anyway for a free bath and a blow dry," she said, as dancer clip clopped gingerly into the canine beauty salon.

Groomers taking part are fully-booked from 9am, this Friday to 9am Saturday, when the marathon ends.

Anyone interested in sponsoring the students can call the grooming centre on 01945 561024.