Dachshund racing was first held in Australia in the 1970s. The early meets featured
Whippet,
Afghan Hound, and Dachshund racing, purely for fun. The
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in California holds an annual Doxie Derby as part of the university's
Picnic Day event. For over 30 years the races have been a fundraiser for veterinary students. Germantown, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, also hosts its own 'Running of the Wienies' for charity.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati includes a Running of the Wieners, with the dogs racing in
hotdog costumes. The sport rose in popularity in North America after a 1993
Miller Lite television commercial that listed odd sports, and continued to grow after the release of
Wiener Takes All, a
documentary film that chronicles two years of the Wiener Nationals circuit. In 2009, the Wiener Dog Nationals in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, held its 16th annual Dachshund race. Zeus, the Germanfest champ from 2006 to 2009, is generally recognized as the greatest racing dachshund of all time. In 2016, the town of Bungendore in New South Wales, Australia held the inaugural Werriwa Wiener Dash to raise funds for Dachshund Rescue Australia. On 29 January 2017, the second Werriwa Wiener Dash was held which set the record for the most number of dachshunds in one place outside of a dog show with 154 dachshunds in attendance. The sport was introduced to Canada in 2018 with the launch of an annual race at
Fort Erie Race Track, which proved a major success for the track. ==Criticism==