July 1st was a perfect day and the shade from the casino parking lot was welcome.
Putting on their Canada Day shirts for the Parade.
At the start line. These were all puppies. Colin took the next photo of them running.
Another heat taken by Colin.
The rest of these shots were taken by me on my iPhone. The fellow in the red hat is a wrangler. He volunteered to help ‘launch’ dogs off the finish line.
Our sweet Ciela, she ran in the heat before Carlie’s first heat. I took this photo from someone else on the KDC facebook page. Colin was certain that she had come in first ( we have had our dogs in training for over a week ) and they knew the drill. Instead of running straight ahead Ciela diverted to the extreme left of the field and came into the finish line at an angle which the judges did not see.
The finish line was a wee problem. The dog owners were supposed to be back five feet from the finish line. However because of something being on the ground behind them they could only back up three feet. I noticed that many of the racing pups would slow down right before the finish line. Also someone was spotted reaching over the finish line grabbing their dog by the collar. Its a first time event and mistakes were made but this is how one learns. It was a great day and next time will be even greater. We found out that it takes two to run a doxie and that one needs a special photographer to concentrate on us and also the finish line.
Our friend Heather and her pup Shawney are on the far left.
And they are off.
Great view from the top of the parkade.
There were several heats and then semifinals and then the finals. Shawney came in second overall. It was a photo finish. Her Mom, Heather, was the one who organized and created this Wienerama. I can’t imagine the hundreds of hours she put in. Fortunately many others volunteered to help.
Here I am at the start line holding Carlie. She won her first heat and I believe this was the semifinals. She did get a break between these two heats.
You need two people to race a doxie. One at the start line ( me ) holding them back and the other at the finish line, Colin. Here he is enticing her with an extra special treat. Then Colin backs up to the finish line calling to her to come and get more cookies. My job was to hold her securely until the “go” was heard.
Everyone had their lures to get their dog to the finish line. Our plan was was working, sort of. Colin had Carlie all worked up and she could see him at the finish line. However it seemed to take forever ( maybe 5 minutes ) of standing there. Carlie burst out of my hands and made a mad solo dash to the finish line.
Colin brought her back to me. He also was carrying her twin sister as an incentive. By now I was hot and had shed my hat – which you know is so important for me to wear but at this point I was worn out.
Special thank you to the lady who was standing behind our chairs, I simply handed her my cell phone and asked if she could take a few photos. Fortunately she did a great job. You can just see Ciela’s butt and tail under Colin’s left arm. Poor dog on the extreme bottom right, looking for a cookie hand out from us. So sorry puppy.
Ready to race once again but dang another wait. Carlie wanted to run but more announcements were being made behind us. You can see that all three doxies were ready to run. So we waited.
Oh another dachshund coming to race and putting herself between us and the gentleman on the right.
Carlie lost her focus and became distracted. At this point she had been ready to race at least 7 minutes ago.
And they are off and running. Great start to the long haired on my right ( your left ).
Mom we want to go home.
Colin and I both were certain that Carlie had place first in her semi final heat. But according to the judges she did not. Don’t know who Stella was in the finals as she was not listed in the semi finals.
It was a wonderful event and I believe much more popular than expected. There were judges everywhere and photo finishes. It wasn’t important to us, the girls raced and had a good time, we hope. But they were very worn out. I heard that there were over 125 dachshunds either participating or watching the races 😀
Ciela was giving us a clear signal.
As we left for home we could see the fire burning on Knox Mountain. Many had been evacuated.
As we unloaded the car this dog bed was left just inside the front door. Ciela immediately climbed in and fell asleep.
Carlie went into the very back of their shared dog crate to rest. They slept for hours.
Just after dinner they came and sat on my lap all wrapped up – security blanket.
Colin and I had planned to attend the dance at the rec enter but we as well as the girls were exhausted. We picked up a tuna foot long at Subway on the way home. Great dinner with some good wine.
Ciela when younger had chewed a few holes in her favourite blanket. It was so cute to see her paw sticking out through one of them.
At about 8:30PM we looked up from the movie we were watching to see a bear on our patio just walking along. The girls spotted him and burst out barking at the top of their vocal range. Colin was on his feet in a moment trying to get the girls inside and closing the screen door. The bear obviously bothered by the girls jumped into the lake.
Click on the link below and then click again on the tiny image. It shows how fast the bear was swimming.
We were surprised at how fast the bear was swimming.
July 1st has been a very loooonnnngg day for us. The fire is contained, the girls are still tired and the bear is long gone. Really hoping for a quiet night tonight July 3rd. We all need the rest. Hope that you enjoyed my July1st trio of posts.
Thanks for checking in.
In case you missed yesterdays post ( July 2, published very late in the day ) click here. It contained photos of the July 1st parade and the start of the wiener races.
Between the races and the bear, the girls had a great and memorable week! I bet the races were fun and chaotic all at the same time.
Very enjoyable series. Thank you for sharing the fun with us.
Jim and I went to the dachshund races one year but left our girls at home. Scooter would have wanted to challenge everybody and Skitz would have been scared to death. It was hot and so many people with lots of waiting. But the races were so fun. Dogs running every direction. Your babies behaved so good.
Wow what a great day for all of you! I absolutely love the photos that you always share with us. A big thank you for all your hard work making these posts. Lots of time and energy spent for our enjoyment. We love and miss you guys!🥰
Thank you. It means a lot to me. It’s even taking longer these days. Guess I’m slowing down. Miss you also.
What a fun event 🙂 And I hope the bear had a nice swim and stays around your lake instead of mine!
I told it to go towards Vernon.
Sounds like an amazing day that will not soon be repeated. Don’t think you really want to see a bear that close LOL
That looks like great fun!
It was but we are all still worn out.