One of my favorite things to watch is racing. You may be saying, “Racing is a fairly broad category Brad, mind narrowing in a bit for your audience?” “I’m mean what type of racing is it? Drag racing? No. Nascar racing? Nope. Perogie races at PNC Park? (Pittsburghers know what I’m talking about.) Close, but wrong again. No I’m talking about the most glorious type of racing in the world, maybe even the universe. I’m talking about wiener dog races.
If you have never experienced a wiener dog race, you are definitely doing yourself and your family a disservice, and I suggest your rectify it immediately. For those of you who remain clueless about what exactly a wiener dog race is, well you’ve come to the right place. Basically its a gathering of dachunds (or wiener dogs as they are affectionately called, you know the kind with the long bodies and the really short legs) that compete in a race, and whoever can sprint, scurry or waddle across the finish line first…wins!
Now this idea alone is rather ridiculous, but to make it even more of a hilarious spectacle, each dog is given a hot dog costume to wear for the race. The costume is two hot dog buns that hang off either side and is held together in the middle with a string of cloth mustard or ketchup. You can’t help but laugh when you see a little miniature hot dog running a peak speed.
Xander and I recently attended our first wiener dog race a few weeks ago as part of the 2014 Fall Festival at the Pittsburgh Waterfront. It was great fun, great weather and we had a great time, great.
We got to the starting line early, as I anticipated a capacity crowd to witness this one of a kind event. As we approached the designated area, you could feet the electricity in the air, many of the rambunctious racers tried to intimidate the competition with their little doggie barks as they crossed paths sizing one another up.
Dachshunds of all shapes and sizes showed up to take part in the event. There were long-haired, short-haired, red, brown, dappled, and even some dachshund/corgi mixes showed up to get in the er…mix.
The race track itself was fairly simple, it consisted of a white fence in the shape of a “U”, with painted white lines drawn on the pavement to designate the starting and end points. And no wiener dog race would be complete without a hot dog vendor posted right next to the starting line.
Finally, the moment had arrived and the race was about to begin. There were so many dogs, that they had to be split up the excited group into different heats. There were about 10 dogs per heat and the winner of each would compete in the final and be crowned king weiner for the day.(Actually no crowns were involved, I just added that for emphasis.)
The first heat of canine contestants were called to the starting line and the countdown was about to begin. Some of the dogs were super excited and were lunging forward eager to show the crowd what they could do. Some of the owners could barely keep there hands around their wieners. (hee hee) 5.4.3.2.1 and in a streak of ketchup red, and mustard yellow, they bound for the finish line. Boy for having shot little legs these dogs could really move! Not all of the dogs were so race inclined, as several ran a few step forward then quickly did a 180 and headed back towards their loving owners. Some of the dogs were more vindictive and attacked their neighbor racers as soon as they were released, making for some interesting wiener race day drama.
As the races started to wind down, I wanted to get Xander’s take on the day and and see what he thought of his first wiener race experience. “So Xander what did you think of those dogs, were they pretty fast?” “Ummmm, No.” “Oh, ok.” “Which was your favorite one?” “Um, that one.” (Pointing to a random dog as it waddled by) “What was your favorite part?” “Um, my favorite part, my fav…, my favorite part was watching the pup… the dogs.” There you have it, couldn’t have said it better myself.
The Daddy Adventures 