Bonnie ran so fast that she nearly lost her racing vest on the way to finishing first in the 29th running of the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals Championship race on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

© Los Alamitos Race Course

By Orlando Gutierrez

CYPRESS, CA–JULY 12, 2026–Gillary Alfaro’s Bonnie, a 1 ½-year-old female doxie from Farmersville in Tulare County, ran so fast that she nearly lost her racing vest on the way to finishing first in the 29th running of the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals Championship race on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Bonnie and her family traveled nearly four hours from Central California to compete in the Wiener Nationals, but the trip was well worth it. She dominated the championship race to take home the $1,000 cash prize, the title of "Fastest Wiener in the West," the golden championship jacket, and a red and yellow doghouse in the shape of a Wienerschnitzel Restaurant. Bonnie covered the approximately 50-yard championship race in a blazing 6.5 seconds.

While her racing vest nearly slipped off in the championship final, Bonnie almost let victory slip away earlier in the night during her trial race. She jumped out to a huge lead in her heat before slowing down as she neared the finish line. Putting her speed on cruise control, Bonnie came dangerously close to being caught in the final yards by a strong finisher.

She certainly learned her lesson for the final. Starting from post position number 10, Bonnie got stronger as the race went on, comfortably holding off 2022 champion Paisley, owned by Danielle Ramos of Moreno Valley. Dahlia Ordaz’s Vyenna of Eastvale finished third.

Bonnie dominated the championship race to take home the cash prize, the golden championship jacket, and a red and yellow doghouse in the shape of a Wienerschnitzel Restaurant. © Los Alamitos Race Course

"Ever since she was a little baby, she sees the straightaway and she’ll just go after it," said co-owner Fidel Alfaro. "She doesn’t have a toy or anything like that to run after. She just sees me, and she wants to run. She just has it in her."

At first, Gillary and Fidel began training Bonnie’s older brother, Buster, to race. However, they quickly realized that the fastest doxie in their household was the younger Bonnie.

"Buster, he’s a little mean," Fidel said. "We were training him when she was just a four-month-old baby. She started lapping him, so we started concentrating on her instead. She just loves to run and is a natural."

The other impressive finalists in the championship field were Danielle Presson’s Delilah of Boise, Idaho; Rachel Olivas’ Dutchess of Long Beach; James Winnick’s Roxy of Oakdale in San Joaquin Valley; Cynthia Comer’s Odin Van Nosey from Coronado; Alyssa Lucas’ Bean from Henderson, Nevada; Kimberly Rosas’ Avi from La Habra; and Leo Rodriguez’s Bella Rose of Santa Monica.

Earlier in the program, Kaylie Phillipi’s Wubzy of Los Angeles won the Diaper Dash for puppies 11 months old or younger. J & C Ayotte’s Cinnamon of Cypress protected the home turf by winning the Tiny Paws race, also for young puppies.

With a full house cheering on over 120 wieners—a record number of entries for the event—the biggest winner of the night was the Seal Beach Animal Care Center (SBACC), a non-kill shelter in Seal Beach. Since 1996, the Wiener Nationals has raised over $320,000 for the SBACC. Total attendance for the event drew a massive crowd of around 7,500 fans, marking the highest attendance for the Wiener Nationals since 2018.

Sign-ups for the 2027 Wiener Nationals have already begun at LosAlamitos.com. Interested doxie owners can email larace@losalamitos.com for more information.

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