A second (and slightly shorter) clip of the Arziona Great Dane Drill team. Words cannot do it justice.

If there’s a funky dog event being held anywhere within driving distance of our home, it looks like we’re there. Today, we went to the second annual Reindoggie Parade in downtown Scottsdale. Dogs and their owners from all over the area, dressed in their best holiday costumes, came to the Hilton Village parking lot to compete. I think the winners in the various categories got some sort of trophy (presented by Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross), but we didn’t stick around for that.

Here's another clip from the dog agility show from last week at Westworld in Scottsdale. A Japanese competitor in the Ashley Whippet Flying Disc competition puts her dog through the paces. My wife and I actually once met the Ashley Whippet; that's a story for another day.

At the dog agility event at Westworld, here's one canine competitor making his/her (?) way through the obstacle course.

After last year’s posting of pictures from the Dock Dogs event at Westworld here in Scottsdale, I was psyched to come back in 2005 at shoot video. So, on Veterans Day, we made our way to the U.S. Dog Agility Association event in which the amazing diving dogs were featured.

It’s a long clip, but it’s worth all six-plus minutes. The star of the show is Gabe, a flying Border Collie who is owned by and trained by Todd Bobula of Dayon, Nevada. I spoke to Todd for a minute after the event and the bond between man and dog was remarkable. The announcer said (and he might have been joking) that Gabe delivers invoices to customers’ doors for Todd as part of his business. I would not be surprised. The other star of the day is actually Gabe’s son, Bolt, who flies just like his dad. Another member of the Bobula clan handles Bolt.

Today was the second day of heats (or waves, as they call them) with the finals on Sunday afternoon.

We had The Wiener Dog Nationals circled on our calendar. Held at the Phoenix Greyhound Park (third annual), it’s an event in which dachshunds compete in “races” to benefit Arizona Adopt a Greyhound. Last year, I had a lot of pictures on a former blog, but tonight, the videos will do it even greater justice. It’s fun to watch these crazy legged little animals run their hearts out.

We were introduced to the event last year when my wife met the owner of Squirt (her name is J.D. Ecker) outside a supermarket. She was raising money for her guy to race and that led us to head down to the park. In this video montage, Squirt is the sweet dachshund who is wearing a hot dog bun. He’s difficult to miss.

The timing was a little off as the monsoon rains came shortly after the first heat. The races are interspersed throughout the night between the greyhound heats. I will not watch the “real” dog races; the concept gives me the willies