Many dogs are great athletes, there’s a reason there are so many sports for people with pets. These include agility, dog frisbee, flyball, dog-pulling, wight-pulling, and more. But there are some unusual and fun competitions among dogs (and often their owners) that you’re unlikely to know about.
The Corgi Race
These little long-eared dogs have long gained the love of people around the world: the corgi are considered one of the cutest dog breeds, and for good reason. At the end of spring, the summer season officially begins in the U.S., and many people go to the coast on the last weekend in May or have a barbecue party with friends. This time, the people of California had a worthy alternative: at the Santa Anita Raceway in Arcadia, a great many Corgis gathered for the first-ever competition among dogs of this breed, the Corgi Nationals.
This event included a corgi race; each participant wore a blanket with a number, and they all had to cover the distance as fast as possible. One owner said he trained his pet with tennis balls, while another used hot dogs because in his case, treating his dog proved to be the most effective motivator. The owners met their pets at the finish line, and winning this competition was definitely not the main goal for them. All the participants, guests, judges and organizers were charged with a lot of positive emotions and enjoyed watching the corgi races.
By the way, the organizers were so satisfied with the way everything went, the interest of the dog owners to this event and the overall atmosphere of the festival that they decided to make this competition an annual event.
Dog Surfing Championships
A great tradition in the U.S. state of California has become the annual Dog Surfing Championship. These competitions have been held on the coast since 2006, and every year the number of participants and spectators increases. What a great show – dogs surfing on surfboards breaking waves! Especially people who have never been on a surfboard find it amazing.
These competitions involve dogs of different breeds, and surprisingly well it is not only large and medium-sized animals, commensurate with the board, but also the little ones.
A “beauty” contest among dogs
We put the word “beauty” in quotes for a reason: the fact is that the ugliest dogs compete for the grand prize in an annual contest held in California. It’s called “The World’s Ugliest Dog. Conducting this competition is very symbolic: with it the owners of not the most beautiful dogs show the whole world that appearance is not the main thing, because they love their dogs just as much as the owners of the champions and prize winners of exhibitions love their pets.
The competition is held annually at the end of June. In 2017, the winner was a Mastiff Neapolitan dog named Marta. She has vision problems: several years ago the dog almost lost the ability to see, but after a number of operations, doctors managed to give Marta back this ability.
In 2016, a very small Chinese Crested dog named Sweet P. Rambo, who was 17 years old at the time, won the contest. At her advanced age, the winner had a number of health problems, which were also reflected in her appearance: the dog has crooked paws and ulcers, and her tongue sticks out almost all the time.
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