“Dear Wiener Nationals Nominating Committee,” began Lady Bug “The Bug” O’Neil’s application to enter the 22nd annual Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals to be held Saturday, July 22, at the Los Alamitos Race Course.
The event is sponsored by the Wienerschnitzel hot dog chain and benefits the pets at the Seal Beach Animal Care Center (SBACC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a home for stray animals in the Orange County area. Since 1996, the Nationals have helped raise more than $250,000 for the Care Center. Last year’s event raised $18,000 through ticket and merchandise sales on the day of the event.
Tracey McCarthy and Dash pose with The Delicious One, Wienerschnitzel’s official mascot, at the July 17 practice session. Photos by Kate Karp.
“We’ve grown from struggling to get 20 to the event to getting 150 entries!” said Orlando Gutierrez, Marketing Director for the racetrack. “On Saturday, we’re going to have over 100 dachshunds racing.”
Melissa Tuchalski (left) has been coming to the Wiener Nationals since she was in kindergarten. “I told my parents that I was getting a dachshund, and I did,” she said.
Tuchalski’s extended family mugs for the camera along with Ditto, a red doxie, and Havoc, a black-and-tan dapple.
The event starts at 6:30PM and consists of a qualifier, 10 heats—hopefully in just the racetrack sense, the Big/Little Race in which the bratwursts mix it up with the cocktail frankies, and the Wiener Nationals Championship, with cash prizes, trophies and other treats. Last year’s grand champion, Julie Woods’s Darcy of the Bankers Hill neighborhood in San Diego, took home $1,000 in cash prizes, a doghouse in the shape of a classic A-Frame Wienerschnitzel restaurant, and a championship trophy and an honorary trophy blanket.
Darcy’s championship run at the 2016 Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals. Video courtesy of Los Alamitos Race Course.
To call the Nationals a race might be a doxie-like stretch. Some of the little guys run the track clean as a whistle, boisterously encouraged by their humans who entice them with favorite toys and familiar calls. Others may run in a circle and return to the gate, become friendly with another dog in the race and have an impromptu play date, or just sit in the gate and look bewildered. Gutierrez said that racing dachshunds relies on the work of the trainers and how the dogs perform and are able to relax in the gate during the practice runs, which were held on Monday, July 17, at Los Al. It’s somewhat akin to getting racehorses ready and also somewhat easier than herding cats.
Monday’s practice run seemed at times to be right up there with herding cats. Boy, it’s fun! Video by Kate Karp
Lucky Lady Bug
Acceptance into the event seems to depend more on the application letters than picking favorites, though. Take Lady Bug, for instance. Her application related how she was dumped at a Riverside Rescue, with hind legs that weren’t working. She couldn’t walk at all. Then, luck trotted in on short little legs in the form of the Dachshund Rescue of Los Angeles. They took Lady Bug to a neurologist, who said that she wasn’t a good surgical candidate because she couldn’t feel her hind legs. The neurologist recommended a wheelchair.
Undaunted, the rescue found Lady Bug a foster and sent her to California Animal Rehabilitation (CARE). Dr. Deanna O’Neil, DVM, CVA, CCRT, did a full exam and expressed full confidence that Lady Bug would walk again. Two months of daily physical therapy, acupuncture and walking on an underwater treadmill proved Dr. O’Neil correct. Lady Bug now trots around comfortably, and Dr. O’Neil has added a new acronym to her name: MOM. She fell madly in love with the little dog. She’s been giving her training for the event and plenty of exercise, which includes chasing after the family cats.
Lady Bug with Deanna O’Neil and “Grandmom” Julie O’Neil.
Lady Bug was all dressed up and ready to go during the practice runs. As for her chances as a contender, O’Neil shows the same confidence as she did when she first examined her.
“I think she can do anything she puts her mind to!” she said.
General admission for the Nationals is $3.00; children under 17 attend free of charge. Parking is free in the lot. No dogs except for the ones in the race may be brought to the event.
Watch Lady Bug beat the odds! Video courtesy of Deanna O’Neil.
“I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren’t certain we knew better.”
~ George Bird Evans, Outdoor Essayist and other things that don’t necessarily meet my approval.
But the quote’s right on. And yes, “Bird” is his actual middle name.
Los Alamitos Race Course is located at 4961 Katella Avenue in Los Alamitos.
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