Definitely not of the racing kind

Having three dachshunds of my own, I decided to visit the Weiner Dog racing in Buda. This event is held every year put on by the Buda Lions Club. This was not my first visit as I went a couple of years ago but I had not thought to find out the time of the actual races and missed them. This time, after logging on to their website to get the schedule, I made sure to go at the appropriate time.

The organizers changed things around this year and did not have on-site parking but instead, opened up a temporary parking lot close to Cabelas and ran a bunch of school shuttle buses to and from the Race Track. This turned out to be a good system and the wait was only about twenty minutes, in both directions.

My original plan was to go down on Saturday to watch the races but I enjoyed myself so much that I decided to go back on Sunday to watch the final race and shoot a video of it which I have posted below. One problem with filming the races is the amount of time it takes for those little guys to run the track which is only 40 yards long. They are so quick that the race is over in about 20 seconds which does not give a lot of time to film. The other problem is that the dogs are so small, it’s hard to pick out any individual one. Maybe with better equipment or an even better filming location, the end result would be more pleasing.

When you view the video, you will see a person in each lane walking backwards or performing some other antics, jumping up and down, waving their arms and such. These are the dog owners and they are trying to keep their dogs attention. Most have a doggy toy or ball or whatever the dog is used to playing with in an attempt to keep them focused.

This was the fifteenth time that the Buda Lions Club has held these races and they attract dogs and their owners from all over the country. Some people are very serious and work with their dogs. Others just enter the dog and hope it will run in a straight line to the finish and not get tangled with any of the other dogs on the way. Some dogs get carried away with the chase and find another one to pick on which generally results in both dogs finishing last. Other dogs veer across the track cutting off other dogs or even bumping into them. It is fun to watch and all of these antics add to the excitement.

I overheard one owner talking to another about the races. One was complaining bitterly that one of the other dogs was picking on hers during her race and this was the reason her dog lost. What did she expect, they are dogs after all and those sort of things are likely to happen. The announcer said that they had raced over 400 dogs  in the two days. You would have thought that the younger two-three year old dogs would be faster but the age of the first three winning dogs was surprising. None was younger than seven. Maybe in lack of speed, they were focused and ran a straight line with no distractions.

In the two days I was there, I have never seen so many wiener dogs in one place. It seemed that every second person had one either on a leash or sometimes in a baby carriage built for small dogs. There were other dogs besides dachshunds of all shapes and sizes. What was interesting about the dachshunds was the variety. They come in three sizes, standard, medium and small and some have smooth coats, others have long hair and they are different in their markings. I only saw one really overweight dachshund in the two days and that one matched it’s owner…

The event is not restricted solely to the racing. There were a whole bunch of tents set up selling all kinds of stuff. As expected, a lot of doggy items but I found one tent that was selling welded wrought iron works of art. On Saturday, I bought a little four-wheel cart for holding flower pots which I was able to purchase for twenty dollars. I have it in the garden already. My hardest part was getting on the school bus with my treasure and by the time I got back to my car, that thing had gotten awful heavy.

Not to be outdone by finding my Saturday treasure, on Sunday after the final race was over, I went back to the same tent just as they were packing up. This time, I was interested in a small wrought iron wheelbarrow, again to be placed in the garden with a flower display. The Owner told me that I could have two of them for $30 total which was too good a bargain to pass up. Again, by the time I got them to the car, my bloody arms were dropping off but it was well worth it as all three look real pretty with mixed planter display in each of them. An added item for the upcoming Pond Tour.

One final item of note. On Saturday, a young couple entered the race area supposedly to make an announcement or something similar. However, after he had the crowd’s attention, the young man got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend in front of several hundred people and presented her with an engagement ring. She was totally taken off guard but she did say “Yes” to him. Good job as he would have felt a proper dork if she had turned him down. Congratulations to the happy couple and may they have many years of wedded bliss and lots of kids. In their old age and to their grandkids, they will be able to recount of how Grandad proposed. Stuff that dreams are made of…

When I got home, I had a long discussion with the three dogs in the picture above trying to tell them the wonders of what I had seen and how Richie should enter next year. I don’t think I should anticipate any action from them as they were totally dis-interested.

So much for having a champion wiener dog in my house…