Celebrating Easter Pawlympics in Dog Run 2025

“Easter Special” Dog Run is a collaborative activity between the Pet Study Group (KSHK) of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada and the Dog Run Community located in Yogyakarta. This activity aims to strengthen the bond between dogs and their owners through interactive competitions, as a meeting point for the dog owner community in Yogyakarta, building a solid pet lover community, supporting each other, and creating a social network and expanding connections to share information among dog owners.

The Dog Run activity entitled “Easter Pawlympics” was held for one day with five categories of competitions held on Sunday, April 27, 2025 in the lobby of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine UGM. The competitions held were Fun Run, Recall, Eating, Egg Hunting competition and Relay competition. The categories of each competition are large dogs and small dogs. Any breed of dog is allowed to participate in these competitions and three winners are selected from each competition and category.

Fun Run is a dog and owner running race. For the large dog category, the race is held as far as 1.5KM. For the small dog category, the race is held as far as 750M. Then for the Recall race, the owners call their dogs within a certain distance dazzled with obstacles, and some of the committee also call the owners’ pet dogs. The Eating race is judged by the speed of the dog finishing the food that has been provided by the committee. While the egg hunting competition and relay races are carried out by dog ​​owners. If the owner has found the egg that has been hidden by the committee, they have to do a special challenge from the committee to get a prize. While the relay race is a group race where dog owners put a spoon in their mouths and pass the egg from one to another, but are not allowed to use their hands.

The benefits of these competitions for the dogs themselves are to train their sensitivity and strengthen bonding with the owners, train their interaction skills with other dogs, and exercise the dogs’ health and endurance. For the owners, this activity provides a fun and non-monotonous experience with their dogs to stay active, strengthen ties between fellow dog owners, especially in Yogyakarta, expand connections, and create a more solid dog lover community.

The entire series of Dog Run activities went well and were followed enthusiastically by the participants. This event supports several SDGs points, including SDGs 3 Good Health and Well-being, SDGs 4 Quality Education, SDGs 15 Life on Land, SDGs 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and SGDs 17 Partnerships for the Goals.

Author: Chessephina Marchiella
Photo Credit: DDD KSHK
Team Editor: Dea D.