Sascha Phillips chatted to the Local Rag about the Dirty Dog Challenge Waikato 2021 that she and her dog Rocky recently competed in.
I have had Rocky for 7 years. I adopted him at 10 months old. He’s still as cheeky and full of beans as he was when I got him. Some people might recognise us on our early morning walks along Wainui Road and onto the beach. We walk about 6 hours a week.
It’s really important Rocky gets his morning exercise, so he has less energy to misbehave when I’m at work. During lockdown my street had a facebook page. It was great because we all became familiar with each other and our pets. I met one of my neighbours Christine and her dog Lenny. We became walking buddies and our dogs became great mates. Christine told me about the Dirty Dog Challenge held at Ngāruawāhia Christian Camp Ground. Its the same course they use for the Tough Guy Tough Girl Challenge. But you do it with your dog on a lead. She told me that about 300 people and their dogs had attended the one she went to. Basically you trudge through the mud with your dog, down slides and over and under obstacles.
I was so excited to hear of this event and knew Rocky would totally be in his element.
The original event of 2020 was set for June but because of Covid they postponed it until September 2020. So
we registered and were all geared up to go. But when Auckland went back to Level 2 around that time they cancelled the event.
Finally again this year the challenge was set back for June 26th 2021. And we made it.
I have never been in a space with that many dogs and their owners. I would say there were close to 200 at this event,Dogs of all shapes and sizes. It was so great to see so many people who were motivated to show their dogs a good time. That’s a lot of love for dogs in one big area.
The Dirty Dog Challenge is a fundraiser for Adopt A Dog. It costs $40 to enter for both the 2.5k or the 6ks. It was really well organised I thought. When you signed off at the end you got a Doggy bag and spot prizes for different criteria. You could even pay to get your dog groomed afterwards .
Rocky and I did the 6k. It was definitely a challenge. Rocky was so happy he would have gone another 6ks just to stay with the pack. I’m so proud of my boy. I’m sure there were a lot of proud dog owners that day, and a lot of dogs proud of their owners too.
We are most definitely doing the Dirty Dog Challenge next year. If you want to know more, you can go on the Waikato District Council website and go to the Dirty Dog Challenge site.
Watch the video there or on You Tube, if it doesn’t inspire you to do it, it will definitely make you giggle.
