Dachshunds To Watch Out For: Meet Poppy

Meet longhairs 'Murphy,' left, and 'Poppy,' and their human Nancy LaVigne, who hail from the Tucson, Arizona region. Poppy beat out 48 other dachshunds to win the Tucson Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals on October 11th,, and will be traveling to San Diego, California, to race in the finals on December 29th. Way to go Poppy! Excerpt from the Arizona Star: "I couldn't believe it, I was shocked," LaVigne said about Poppy's victory and the all-expenses-paid trip to the national race. But the dog enjoys the exercise. "Since she was a puppy, she's loved running," LaVigne said.
The winner will receive $1,000 and will be featured during a timeout of the Holiday Bowl the next day. LaVigne plans on giving a percentage of the proceeds to the Sahuaro Dachshund Rescue and World Vision (an anti-poverty organization), should Poppy be victorious.

Read all about Poppy, the big race, and see a great slide show of photos at The Arizona Star. (One note of warning, if you hit the newspaper link more than a few times, you have to register with the paper, but it's free.)