Wiener Dog Race & Costume Contest

Just yesterday I attended Wiener-Paw-Looza in Ottawa for the annual wiener dog festivities, including costume contests, trick contests, raffles, and of course wiener dog races. I was a racing champion last year, and was looking to renew my title at this year’s event.

Although I didn’t train specifically for the event, you could say that everyday I’m ‘training’ with my daily expeditions and overall active lifestyle.

What was particularly exciting about this year’s wiener dog race was the fact that my brother Oakley was attending with me for the first time! He told me he’d been training a whole lot this year, so I was curious to see how he’d do.

But before the races started, it was the Costume Contest. Last year I came up with a pretty good costume (even though Dad might say it was his idea), which was “Two Monkeys Carrying a Box of Bananas”.

I wanted to do a joint costume with my brother this time, so we came up with an idea that suited us well. Although you can usually see us as BATDOG and Robin, we take our ‘superdog’ business very seriously, so it’s not ‘costume contest’ material. However, playing off of the ‘hero to society’ theme, we came up with a fun idea.

I was a fireman, and Oakley was a fire truck.

We make a pretty good team. I’m the fearless firefighter who ventures into the depths of the unknown to save the helpless, while Oakley waits from the safety of the road supplying the juice (since he always seems to have an endless bladder).

I will say that although we look very professional and brave, we are still in training as firefighters, so you may wish to trust upon your local fire station instead of calling us (for now). Plus, we’re also pretty busy keeping up appearances as BATDOG & Robin.

Anyway, both Oakley and I were very happy to learn that we won best costume! It was the first ‘first place’ Oakley has ever had, so I’m happy even just for him.

It’s worth mentioning the runner-ups though!

In second place was another adorable duo – the princesses of wienerland!

I’m sure a princess would be interested in a heroic firefighter, right? I gave her my number so if she’s ever in a burning tower, she knows who to call.

In third place was my good friend Gogo (you’ll be seeing more of her soon), who had a great Elvis costume (that played music and everything!).

Then it was time for the races!

Oakley was up first, which was good as it allowed him to test out the track before I ran it. It was a good thing, too, because he told me the whole right side of the track was stiff, straw-like grass. So I made sure to run mine on the left ; )

I watched from the sideline as Oakley ran by, coming in at about 5th or 6th place. I was proud of the guy for just running the race, as he’s only ever tried this once before (when I wasn’t there), and didn’t even run. So this was an accomplishment!

You can see him run in the YouTube video a bit lower!

Then it was my turn!

Even though I didn’t do any ‘official training’ per se, what’s more important to my race performance is my build-up to getting a squeaky ball! I only get one of these special squeaky faces about once a month or even less. Mum and Dad didn’t give me one for a couple months in building up to this race! Then a couple days before Dad gave me a glimpse. Then the day before he gave it a squeak. The morning of I see him put it in his pocket and squeak it a couple more times.

By the time the race comes along I am DYING to get that squeaky ball!

So for my first heat, I came in first ahead of the competition by a long shot!

Bazinga!

Here’s me coming in for landing.

On to the finals..

..Which didn’t go as smoothly as I would have hoped.

You’re going to call me a hypocrite I’m sure after all my complaining about the wire haired who took the false start in one of my previous races that ended up ruining my trust in them. Well, guess what – I had a false start – BUT mine was not intentional. It’s Mum’s fault for not being able to contain my excitement to go get that squeaky ball (that’s what I’m telling people at least).

Here’s me running the course all by myself! La-di-da-da..

Then when Dad brought me back to the starting block, I heard someone at the other end squeak something, and I slithered out of his grasp and ran it a second time.. all by myself.

So retrospectively, not the best use of my energy before the final race.

Finally, all was dandy and the official final race was on!

As I was whipping across the grass, I looked over at my opponent as we were neck and neck, and he did likewise.

And well, I’ll leave the rest up to the following video, which also includes the ‘Best Trick Segment’ where I did my “bang! – play dead routine”, as well as Oakley’s race.

So overall, I came in third, which doesn’t maintain my champion title, but that’s ok. It was fun and that’s all that matters (although I probably would have won had I not blown all my energy).

Just wait for the next one.. ; )

In fact, just seeing and taking photos with many of my fans made it all worthwhile. This cutie named Kiwi drove over an hour to come see her favorite celebrity. Least I could do was take a photo with her.

All in all, it was a great day, and I was happy to have won some of these titles together with Oakley.

The only problem is that I now need to share my Best Costume trophy with him. After much discussion we decided we’ll each keep it for a month at a time. So I’ll be mailing it to him in a month.. (if it doesn’t get “lost” in the mail ; )

Thanks to all my fans at the event and everywhere else who sent me their good vibes for the race!

Keep speedin’,

~ Crusoe

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