'Neighbours mad I cancelled Pup Olympics - I didn't want the newcomer to win again'

There is nothing neighbourhoods love more than communal events to get everyone, and their pets, together, especially for a good cause. But one woman was forced to cancel their annual Pup Olympics, which had been running for six successful years, after a new neighbour entered their competition-winning, Insta-famous, poodle.

Taking to Reddit, the event organiser aired their frustrations: “Five to six years ago my HOA (homeowner association) decided our neighbourhood is boring and encouraged people to come up with ideas/activities to liven things up. This, my Pup Olympics was born.

“It's just the neighbourhood dogs competing (poorly), in different silly events for two days and being rewarded with treats. Early on there would be prizes for the owners of whichever dog won each event, and it really was all fun and games. After a couple years we started doing a paid entry for each event, and the money went toward cash prizes and a donation to a really great local animal shelter, where lots of us got our pups.

"Might be worth it to note that most people in the neighbourhood choose to donate their cash prize toward the shelter fund, so we usually come up with a pretty great donation. People look forward to the Olympics every year, it's ridiculous but it's fun and we all loved it.”

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But things took a downward turn when the new pooch on the block entered the competition. The woman continued: “18 months ago a new neighbour moved in and she has a Poodle who frequently competes in (and wins) dog competitions. This dog has a million followers on Instagram. We all follow the page and obviously root for this dog in the competitions. No issue with the dog itself. However, it ruined Pup Olympics last year.

“This dog swept every single competition. There is literally one event for senior dogs that it didn't qualify for and that's the only one that this Poodle didn't win. We all just kind of stood there for two days and gave cash prizes to the same woman for every event.

“To make matters worse, she didn't donate a single extra penny to the shelter fund. This has taken an event for families and kids and turned it into something it was never meant to be. It's like having a professional athlete compete at a high school field day.”

The Pup Olympics organiser attempted to tweak the event to make it fairer for other furry participants. The post continued: “So, Pup Olympics are happening soon, but this year my committee decided on ‘No Competition Dogs’ rule, to make it more fair for the other owners/families. The Poodle owner got notice of this and has gone ballistic.”

They also attempted to include other categories for “more serious competition dogs”, as well as limiting the number of events one pet can partake in to level the playing field. The post continued: “To clarify, deciding to cancel was more of a long story short after four days of meetings with this woman to try to come up with something agreeable.

“First, I offered to do a couple of categories for more serious competition dogs, but was told by the HOA I'm not allowed to host any kind of events that make it seem like any part of this is a 'real' dog competition.

“Then I tried to restrict how many events each dog can enter, and she wanted that number to be eight. Out of 10 events, she wanted eight. That was the number she got the HOA board to agree with her on, and they basically told me that if I couldn't let that happen, then I couldn't host the competition.”

Despite their attempts to alter the Pup Olympics rules the HOA ruled against the changes, and the poodle parent sent a flurry of “vindictive messages.” The Reddit user added: “Now the Poodle owner has sent me multiple vindictive messages

implying that I did this to hurt her personally and the neighbourhood is split 50/50 on who was in the wrong. So, am I the a**hole?” Fellow Reddit users have jumped to the co-ordinator’s defence. One commented: “If you had a race for neighbourhood kids and an Olympic gold medallist runner showed up to enter, that'd be an a***hole move. This is no different, and the fact that the owner can't understand why her precious shouldn't be allowed to dominate the amateur competitions shows a huge lack of awareness.”

Another chimed in: “This was supposed to just be a bit of fun for everyone until the new neighbour decided to show off and spoil it for everyone else - she will probably be hated for getting the event.” A third added: “I came here ready to call you the a***hole but what kind of unhinged ultra- competitive weirdo moved into your neighbourhood? The Olympics are for amateurs and poodle lady is a professional who is sucking away all the fun from your neighbourhood."

A separate Redditor fumed: “That dog is professionally trained and this is with mostly dogs who aren’t in competitions at all. Unfair and plus she isn’t helping shelter animals at all. I feel like she entered just to win.”

While others suggested including other categories in the Pup Olympics so the champion Poodle has no chances of winning. They advised: “You could change the events so that the show dog can't win.

"Event one - pup missing the most teeth. Event two - pup that gets the messiest while eating (pie plate filled with peanut butter and whipped cream. Event three - most overweight pup event, as well as freestyle howling, tug of war, and squirrel chase contests."