Vino and the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge
The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge will take place in Fort Worth, TX, on May 4th and 5th. This fun and action-packed multi-day event is filled with dogs of all breeds competing in many different platforms that shows off their amazing skills. There is Diving Dog, Agility, Surf Dog and Freestyle Flying Disc just to name a few. The fastest and most energy-packed, in my opinion, is the Jack Russell Terrier Hurdle Racing. The dogs chosen for the event by invitation-only all have racing experience and are known to be some of the fastest JRTs in America. The competition is stiff.
The racing is done in heats. The top two dogs from each heat move on to the finals. Six dogs at a time are placed into starting boxes. When the racing steward gives the signal, an artificial lure is pulled down the straight racetrack and the dogs are released to chase the lure. They are all wearing muzzles for their protection and the protection of the catchers at the end of the track. JRTs have a strong prey drive. The lure is like chasing squirrels, rats or any other varmint that a JRT considers to be prey. The dogs have three sets of hurdles to jump over before reaching the soft-padded hole leading into a catch pen. The hole is only large enough for one dog to pass through at a time. They also are wearing colored collars so the catchers can distinguish which dogs come through in successive order.
Vino and I were very honored in 2011 to be invited to participate. On the big day, Vino was in tip-top racing shape and ready to go. He placed 2nd in his first heat which qualified him for the semi-finals. I was so proud of him. He was laser-focused on the lure and gave it his all. In the semi-final heat, he decided that bumping into his fellow competitors and pushing them against them the racing barrier wall was a better strategy than keeping his eye on the lure. He had never done that before, but I’m never surprised by the antics of these little clowns in dog suits. They have a mind of their own. This new “strategy” put Vino in 3rd place and out of the final race. I was still so proud of my boy for giving it his all. He didn’t care about winning. He was just having fun. It was a special experience I will always treasure.
