Dogs compete for 'barking' rights in pie eating competition
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 29, 2018 11:10 AM
Medium-size dogs are ready to pounce on their pie at the pie-eating competition.
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Lyza won the Fastest Eater award, devouring her pie in just 29 seconds.
Full SizeMore than 30 dogs of all sizes and breeds showed up for the first-ever pie eating competition Saturday at Pet Supplies Plus.
There was a 3-pound chihauhau and a tiny dachshund and a 100 pound Pyrenees -- and everything in between including bulldogs, labs and even a Dalmatian.
Pet Supplies Plus held the event as a fun way to get dogs and their owners out and about on a holiday weekend, said store team leader Lindsey Clark.
"Pies" were actually 100 percent canned pumpkin spooned into small pie tins. Each dog got its own pie.
Employees "made" the pies about 15 minutes before the event was to begin. Dogs got anywhere from three to eight tablespoons of pumpkin, depending on its size.
"Pumpkin is good for dogs in smaller quantities," Clark said. "It aids in upset tummies and things like that. It's good for their digestive systems. And if they have diarrhea, it helps calm that down, too."
But some of the contestants were not too fond of the pumpkin, eating just the doggie treat toppings instead.
But most of the dogs liked and ate their pie, Clark said.
"We definitely didn't expect that many dogs, but we were ready in case we had a lot come," she said. "They all got along together and we didn't have any incidents.
"We had four weight classes. We just lined them up by weight class, laid out the pies, said go and timed them."
Eight prizes, store gift cards, were given out to winners for the fastest eater, messiest eater and cleanest eater.
"Some dogs had pumpkin on their face so they were the messiest eaters," Clark said. "Some completely cleaned their plate and didn't have anything on their face, so they were the cleanest eaters. Then we had the fastest ones.
"We had one dog that finished its pie and wanted to go back and eat everyone else's pie. Every dog got a pie and some even took theirs home."
Clark said both pets and their owners seemed to enjoy the event, and getting to visit before the pie competition began.
"This was a great fun activity to bring people and their dogs together," she said. "It was just a fun family thing to do with your pet on a holiday weekend."
Clark said a pie-eating competition will be held again in the future at various events at the pet store.
"We may do it at our Halloween costume contest," she said. "We'll definitely do it next summer, too."