As fast as their paws can go

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

Just imagine it: The starting line is set. The racetrack before you is made of fresh, fluffy snow. There are cheers of anticipation all around. Best of all, your favorite person is absolutely amped, ready to lead the way to victory.

You are a dog, and this is the 2023 Winter Carnival K9 Keg Pull in downtown Sandpoint, which will take place Sunday, Feb. 26.

Timber is one of the doggos currently up for adoption at Better Together Animal Alliance. Photo courtesy Allison Turcotte Photography.

Dogs of all sizes are invited to take part in this year’s event, during which they’ll be fastened to an appropriately-sized keg — from large barrels to empty beer cans — and tasked with running their little hearts out down a snow course trucked from the freshly covered mountains and landscaped over Cedar Street between Second and Third avenues. 

Registration begins at 10:15 a.m. and races start at 11 a.m. Cost to participate is $10 for two runs and $5 for each additional run.

Spectating is also a big part of the event, so people without dogs should feel welcome to come cheer on the pups at the K9 Keg Pull.

The event is part of the annual Sandpoint Winter Carnival, organized each year by the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce and Schweitzer. The K9 Keg Pull — which has been a Winter Carnival staple for more than 20 years in various forms — is hosted by Eichardt’s Pub, EzyDog and Selkirk Press, with funds raised supporting the Better Together Animal Alliance in Ponderay.

“Those three sponsors really do all the legwork to put it on and they have the proceeds benefit us,” said Andrea Nagel, BTAA’s director of Storytelling and Partnerships. “We are there the day-of to help facilitate [the event], but they really do the heavy lifting.”

BTAA, formerly Panhandle Animal Shelter, continues to shelter animals but is also committed to supporting community members who need a little help keeping their pets at home.

“What we are working on right now is expanding and providing more access to medical services for the community,” Nagel said. “We provide help to not only the animals that are in-house here — dogs [and] cats that become available for adoption here, they all get spayed and neutered, microchipped and vaccinated before they go home — but we also offer a lot of community resources and programs that we work to fund so that we can expand as many services and help as many people and their pets as we can.”

BTAA offers a helpline that anyone seeking medical help, access to pet food or anything else related to pet ownership can call at 208-217-4453.

“If there’s any way that we can provide service to those pet owners and help them keep their pet at home with them, we will absolutely do it,” Nagel said. “That’s anything from spay and neuter vouchers to participating community veterinarians, to providing in-house services, or food from our pet food bank.”

BTAA will have an information tent set up at the keg pull, where people can learn more about what their financial support funds.

“I would love to encourage people to come down and check it out even if they’re not planning on participating,” Nagel said. “Just come watch and come by our tent and say ‘hi.’”