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Tahoe Nugget #168:

Tahoe Snowfest for Dogs
March 10, 2009

Sunday was the last day of the Truckee-North Tahoe Mountain Mardi Gras festival known as Snowfest. Local businesses host a variety of community events including parades, concerts, parties and a polar bear swim.

Those activities are for the humans, but everyone knows that Tahoe is really a dog's paradise, and there were plenty of opportunities to show off your favorite canine. Four-legged competitions included a dog pull, a dress up your dog contest, and a dog agility course made of snow.

Since I was out of town I missed most of the events, but I did make it back in time to attend the 4th Annual Tahoe Donner Association "I-dida-Run". This Donner Party themed dog pull race pits dogs against a stop watch while pulling covered wagon sleds down a narrow course. Proceeds benefit the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe and there were plenty of adopted "rescues" strutting their stuff.

The I-dida-Run race isn't as challenging as the world famous Iditarod going on in Alaska this month, but it was a lot of fun to watch. It was hard to tell who was having the best time, the dogs or the humans.

Depending on the dog's size, iron weights were loaded onto the "sleds" to make the race more equitable for the smaller dogs. Roscoe, Rambo and Roxy were just a few of the energetic hounds that were put to the harness in honor of the pioneers who were snowbound many years ago. Mush!