Wiener Dog Summer Nationals

2006 Weiner Dog Nationals

Hot Dog! Dachshund Racing Is Sizzling Crowd Pleaser at Tracks

By BILL RICHARDS Staff reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

    When the operators of Multnomah Greyhound Park in Gresham, Ore., decided last month to hold the Wiener Dog Summer Nationals - a race for dachshunds - they figured they had a nifty little promotional idea.  "We thought we'd get maybe a couple of hundred entries," says Kristine Levesque, the dog track's marketing director.  Wrong.   In two weeks, more than 1,000 dachshund owners have signed up their dogs for the 100-yard sprint down the track's front straight-away July 9th.  Hundreds more entries are piling up daily.

    Dachshund racing has taken off, in a manner of speaking, since a pack of the little low-riders galloped for glory in a Miller Lite beer ad last year.  The ad touched off a "huge reaction" from dog enthusiasts, says a spokesman for Miller.  That prompted Miller to set up a dachshund race last January at Gulf Greyhound Park in La Marque, Texas.  More than 2,000 dog owners sent in entries, and the race drew a crowd of 17,000, breaking the track's attendance record.

    This year, between 30 and 40 dachshund races are scheduled across the U.S., according to the Dachshund Club of America.  At the club's annual convention in May, about 100 dogs scampered down the middle of the Pale Alto, Calif., Hyatt grand ballroom for the national championship.  The winner: Frank, a black-and-tan two-year-old from Eagle Point, Ore., who "goes berserk" whenever he hits the starting gate, says Mickey Perry, his owner.

    Lawrence Swanson, president of the Dachshund Club of America, says his organization is pleased, if a bit mystified, at the interest in watching a group of dogs with 3 inch legs run 100 yards in a minute and a half. "It's not as big as greyhound racing - or as fast," he says, "but it's getting very popular."

    Multnomah officials plan a lottery to pare down the dachshund field to 32 amateurs, plus a separate race for eight race-seasoned "professionals," including Frank . Winners get a trophy, a year's supply of dog food and a blanket.

    Frank's major competition, a 30-pound Portland, Ore., Dachshund named Max who lost by a nose in Pale Alto, trains by chasing a garbage bag yanked across his backyard, says David Niebur, his owner.  Mr. Niebur says the 100-yard dash at the Gresham track should be a piece of cake for Max. "My dog can do that without breaking a sweat," he says.