Southeastern Guide Dogs Pawlympics brings fun to weekend

The Southeastern Guide Dogs Pawlympics brings fun to the weekend in between actual Olympics watching.

Southeastern trains both guide dogs and service dogs free of charge for recipients, though very generous donors and various fun fundraising events.

Part of this training occurs at the Canine Fitness Center, which includes an inflatable array of equipment to navigate through in order to get them used to squeezing through tight spaces, a treadmill to build up endurance, and an agility course, which helps their vision/spatial awareness and increases muscle strength.

The agility obstacles include the standard weave poles, high jumps and double jumps (called cavaletti), and also adds some army crawls.

There is also a pool area that is sometimes used once the dogs are grown to keep them sharp.

The Southeastern Guide Dogs Pawlympics was a fun break during training.

Competing in the Southeastern Guide Dogs Pawlympics were Delta (very gold Labrador/Golden mix), Heff (black Lab) and Leerie (pale Lab/Golden mix). Leerie is a 20 month old who specializes in the doggy paddle, Heff a 19 month old who excels at focus, and Delta is another 19 month old who is very light on her paws.

In dog years all competitors are roughly high school/college age, in line with many human participants at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Heff took the win in the 20 meter dash by about a body length, followed by Delta, who took a tremendous flying leap at the finish line to steal second over Leerie.

In the 3 meter hurdles, Heff ran into some trouble, knocking one set down, while Delta cruised through the course like the pro she will eventually become, winning the event.

In the pool for the 10 meter doggy paddle, Leerie shone as the top waterdog, fetching her bumper toy and bringing it back the fastest of anyone.

This meant, of course, that everyone had one event win each, so it was a three-way tie for the gold medal, as they all deserved it (and treats and scratches).

Congratulations to all the participants, and keep pup the good work!