Walking in a Wiener Wonderland

Walking in a Wiener Wonderland







January 1, 2009





New Year’s Eve day was once again the date of one of the most unusual Key West traditions, the fourth annual Dachshund Walk this year dubbed “Walking in a Wiener Wonderland”. The event is (loosely) organized by our friends Ruth Reiter and Dan Metzler and their dog Schumann who was the first Fur Ball King in Key West and ordained that the Dachshund is the “Official Dog of Key West”.









This year dogs and their owners started gathering earlier than ever at the corner of Fleming and Whitehead at Mile marker 0 and by the noon start a new record 165 Dachshunds and their entourages were present, a new record number! In addition there were a number of other breeds present, either as on-lookers or attempting to disguise themselves as Hot Dogs.







The walk is fairly short, one block up Fleming then down Duval for a block, across the street and back along the same route. This year Dachshunds took up two complete blocks and there were hundreds and hundreds of people lining the route to watch the parade. First though, was the gathering on the Courthouse steps for the big group photo which in itself is quite the humorous undertaking.









The weather was near perfect, bright sunny and warm with low humidity and a light breeze. The harsh noon sunlight presents some problems for photography, but as you can see I got some decent shots that I hope capture the feel of the event.

Bert & Clare



The event is quick, lasting just about an hour which includes plenty of time for gathering, some sniffing and for the walk itself, which is pretty fast despite the short legs of the participants. This is one event that you really have to see in person to appreciate and I would encourage everyone to start planning to attend the big 5th annual event next December 31st at noon.















Check out this Dachshund Blog:

Dachshund Love Blog