In hopes of saving homeless canines and encouraging adoption, the Companion Animal Wellness Club of NC State hosted the 23rd Annual Dog Olympics at NC State’s Centennial Biomedical Campus on Saturday.
This year’s Dog Olympics hosted 20 different rescue shelters and more than 30 vendors, a significant increase from the five to six rescue shelters at the event when it started in the 1990s. Vendors and information booths shared facts, statistics and served to instigate the adoptions of animals.
Owners partook in various events and friendly competitions throughout the day. Some of these events included best trick, small/big dog limbo, high jump, howling contest, musical sit, roll-over rover, look-a-like contest, longest tail and agility relays.
Camille Brooks, pet owner and member of the Rottweiler Hearts Rescue, said this year’s Dog Olympics was a great experience.
“The event was wonderful, not only for the activities presented, but for the opportunity to socialize the dogs, both personal and rescues,” Brooks said.
Amy Lamb, president of the Companion Animal Wellness Club, said the hard work put in to set up helped make the event a success. Volunteers and professors worked booths and judged the different competitive events.
“The professors involved have all been really great in helping us out on this Saturday morning,” Lamb said. “We couldn’t have done this without them and our many volunteers.”
The Paralympics Parade, a cart parade for dogs with spinal cord injuries, was a major component of festivities. Starting about midday, the parade worked to raise awareness for canine disabilities and provide other ways for disabled dogs to increase social skills and interact with other dogs.
Spinal cord injuries cause dogs to have little-to-no function of their back legs. Therefore, some dogs rely on wheelchairs to maneuver around. The parade was a way for disabled dogs to participate in the Dog Olympics, although they could not partake in the contests or relays.
Representatives from Cary K-9 Unit, Treibbal with Superior Dog Training, Flyball with Dog Gone Fast, American Kennel Club and the Canine Good Citizenship Testing gave presentations about their respective organizations.
The Raleigh Kennel Club provided a free microchip clinic at the event. At the clinic, employees safely inserted microchips so dogs could be tracked if they were ever lost. The clinic was limited to one microchip per family.
The Companion Animal Wellness Club of NC State hosted the event. Club President Anna McKain said the event served its purpose in socializing dogs and promoting pet rescue, and hopefully the club will see everyone back next year.
McKain said the club is doing a lot of community outreach and working to help bring about pet adoptions.
“We aren’t doctors yet, but its good training for us,” McKain said. “We also have volunteered with the Coalition of Unchained Dogs, where we build fences for dogs who have spent their entire lives on a chain. As far as public outreach, this is our big event.”
All the proceeds were donated evenly between the groups present at the event. Along with the admission fees, all other event revenue was donated to area rescue organizations.
