How to Incorporate Stray Dogs Into Winter Olympic Sports
![140206_FRC_sochiDog2 doge](/content/dam/slate/blogs/five-ring_circus/2014/140206_FRC_sochiDog2.jpg.CROP.promovar-mediumlarge.jpg)
Photo illustration by Holly Allen. Photo of Arianne Jones by Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images.
Stray dogs are a problem in Sochi. So much so that the Russian government ordered a pre-games round up of the city’s canine population. But are they really a problem? Maybe if we treated them more like an Olympic X-factor, the Olympics would go a bit smoother, and we'd add to the athletic intrigue along the way. So let’s embrace an Olympics that includes the Doge Luge, as seen above.
Also the Stray Slalom, below.
![140206_FRC_sochiDog3 dog slalom](/content/dam/slate/blogs/five-ring_circus/2014/140206_FRC_sochiDog3.jpg.CROP.promovar-mediumlarge.jpg)
Photo illustration by Holly Allen. Photo of Richard Freitag byLars Baron/Getty Images.
Ski jumping, with sidekick.
![140206_FRC_sochiDog1 ski jumper with dog](/content/dam/slate/blogs/five-ring_circus/2014/140206_FRC_sochiDog1.jpg.CROP.thumbnail-small.jpg)
There’s not actually a stray dog in this last one. The figure skating costumes are just that good.
![140206_FRC_sochiDog4 pairs figure skating plus dog](/content/dam/slate/blogs/five-ring_circus/2014/140206_FRC_sochiDog4.jpg.CROP.promovar-mediumlarge.jpg)
Photo illustration by Holly Allen. Photo of Maxim Trankov and Tatiana Volosozhar by Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images.