So, a beautiful dog crashed the Olympics team sprint XC skiing event:
DOG AT THE OLYMPICS
FULL COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS— Rodger Sherman (@rodger.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 8:26 AM
I wondered whether we were sure he was a dog at first — he looks pretty darned wolf-like to me.
Olympics Dog was chasing the motorized camera they have to capture the competitors at the finish line, then decided to chase some competitors instead
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 8:40 AM
But commenter tom brandt informed me that the pooch is a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog named Nazgul! The dog had escaped from a nearby B&B. There’s a story about it on NPR here, and here’s an excerpt:
LAGO DI TESERO, Italy — A local dog made a bid for Olympic glory Wednesday morning, breaking out of his doghouse and onto the homestretch of the cross-country ski course in the middle of a race.
Two-year-old Nazgul was quickly collared by race officials and returned unharmed to his home at a nearby bed-and-breakfast, but not before his genial presence lit up television sets and social media channels around the world — even if he perplexed some of the athletes who encountered him.
“I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating?” said Tena Hadzic, a 21-year-old Croatian skier who encountered the dog on her trip down the homestretch. “I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me.”
He just wagged his tail and sniffed a few butts. No harm done.
The dog’s owner described him as “stubborn, but very sweet.” Tom wants to know why they named him Nazgul, and so do I. Unfortunately, the NPR story doesn’t say.
Open thread.
sab
NPR isn’t what it used to be, not asking that question.
ETA Of course it isn’t. Trump cut most of its federal funding.
Belafon
@sab: Ever since they changed the N from Nerd to National, things have just gone to the dogs.
lowtechcyclist
Reminds me of this old bit of comics dialogue:
Guard: “Sir, no dogs are allowed in there.”
The Phantom: “This is no dog. This is a wolf.”
NotMax
Would have been cool if it were a St. Bernard with a mini-keg of brandy on his collar.
:)
Professor Bigfoot
The moment I saw that big fella had a collar and tags, I knew he was a Good Boy, and SOME human now has lifetime award footage of his doggy being world class adorable
ETA come on, you guys, can you imagine being able to say “My dog was in the Olympics, and I have the video to prove it!” 😂😂
twbrandt
Wow, I made the front page of Balloon Juice! My life is complete!
Steve LaBonne
@lowtechcyclist: My wife spotted the wolfness right away. I found further information and Nazgul (gotta love his name) is indeed something called a Czechoslovakian wolf dog, which originated from crosses between German shepherds and Carpathian wolves. He is obviously a very good boy.
Baud
That’s a good looking good boy.
sab
Tiny hobbits, being mostly oblivious, came between Nazghul and their prey all the time. It was risky and dangerous but it could be done.
Matt McIrvin
I bet those hobbits were hiding just off the course somewhere. Tricksy, they are.
rikyrah
Kit Maher
@KitMaherCNN
The Trump airport trademark application is unusual — hubs named for Reagan, JFK or the Clintons weren’t protected by trademark filings by the former presidents or their families.
“Normally, the private individual who’s being honored isn’t protecting his or her name as a trademark,” trademark attorney
@JoshGerben
told me.
The trademark also includes a lengthy list of merchandise that would fall under its purview: Watches, clocks, jewelry, clothing, cuff links, collectible coins, belts and “plastic slippers used in the airport environment when going through security to keep feet and socks clean.”
x.com/KitMaherCNN/status/2024198330352369768?s=20
scary lawyerguy
@scarylawyerguy
Maybe that’s bc the Reagans, Kennedys, and Clintons wouldn’t think to try and profit off having airports named after their family members. I don’t know, just a thought 🙃
x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/2024219419019284510?s=20
rikyrah
Nick Reeves #RejoinEU #NAFO #FBPE
@nickreeves9876
JD Vance’s owner, Peter Thiel, says America is like Weimar Germany in the 1920s:
“Liberalism is exhausted… Democracy whatever that is, is exhausted… so we have to start talking far outside the Overton Window.”
This was precisely what the Nazis tried to sell to Germans, that Weimar was “too liberal” and needed “strong leadership” to save it from degeneracy. Thiel made these remarks at a talk to promote German philosopher Carl Schmitt, who was a Nazi, a racist, and a rabid antisemite, who presented his theories as an ideological foundation of the Nazi dictatorship and a justification of the Führer state.
youtu.be/vfbndRTlsg4?si=HTDWV5XsGGdP6UiN
(much of the content of this post comes from a post by the excellent
@jimstewartson)
x.com/nickreeves9876/status/2023802040837603628?s=20
trollhattan
Hah!
Dog: “You guys aren’t very good at this, let me show you how it’s done. After, it’s treat time!”
If I saw that fellow out and about my first thought would be “Wolf!”
Steve LaBonne
@rikyrah: Always Be Grifting.
FastEdD
Nazghul crosses the finish line and sniffs a skier’s butt, then licks a judge. Good move! Reminds me of a dog event I went to years ago. They had a shuttle bus pick us up and dogs, of course, were allowed on the bus. Mine climbed up on the seat next to me and a woman sat in the seat in front. Dog just stuck his whole nose in her hair and started sniffing away. Don’t you know you can’t do that???
Melkel
To add a bit more info about the breed – they were bred in 1950s as a experimental service dogs for border patrol. The goal was to improve stamina and health and keep the German Shepherd mentality and obedience. It failed. The dogs were quite healthy, very tireless, intelligent, but also hard to motivate, shy to the level of panic aggressivity and very attached to one person.
There were approved as service breed in 90s, and since then low level popular because of the exterior. Personality-wise, the breeding is focused more and more on making them less shy, less prone to attack and more social. Italy is the country with most of them, followed by Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Now it is not an easy to handle breed, but usually nice and playful dogs, good in families ready to adjust their lives to the dog’s needs. Still very intelligent, sometime mischievous, prone to destruction of everything if bored, real Houdinis. Also loyal, amazing with kids, possible to train and socialize, with great personalities. Definitely less demanding compared to standard wolfdogs of F1-5 generations. They are dogs.
I have a second one, and do not want any other breed.
sab
I have wanted to be Canadian since I was twelve years old. My dad , not Canadian, said yes. My mom, eligilble to be Canadian, said no. We were in Florida. It was warm. I think that is what went through my mother’s brain because nothing wlse made sense.
sab
@Steve LaBonne: Very OT: Sir, would you come to a NE Ohio meetup this summer? We can maybe plan.
sab
@Melkel: Other dogs are very good, but my experience is they are not quite German Shepherds.
My GSD died longer ago than she actually lived, but me, my spouse, and all my stepkids miss her.
les
Article says he is a Czech dog, so the name could be Turkic-inspired. “Nazgul” means “friendly/affectionate flower/rose” and is a popular Central Asian girl’s name. “Gulnaz” is another version.
sab
@Melkel: Who are you linking to? I am interested but cannot follow since no link.
sab
@les: Seriously? That is what Nazgul means in TurkIsh? He (Tolkien was a philologist (language expert guy).)
I cry BS lying.
gratuitous
Oh sure, the wolf dog wags his tail and sniffs a few butts, and it’s “no harm done.” But baud does it, and it’s a whole HR thing!
sab
@sab: Reddit thread that could neither eread nor pronounce Turkish.
ETA They got everything wrong, mostly Off Topic. Tolkien did not.
Steve LaBonne
@sab: I would be interested, thanks.
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
That is a VERY handsome dog, and very wolf-like, but you can from his coat that he’s cared for by a keeper.
Paul in KY
@Professor Bigfoot: That would win you some bar bets.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: What a creep.
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: Man, I remember when their standard Nazi-themed attack was “no, YOU’RE the real Nazis” and not “what we need now is a Hitler.”
Anne Laurie
Here’s a (fairly) recent National Geographic story about Czech wolf-dogs:
Demand for wolf-dog hybrid pets is surging—and that’s a huge problem
I’m sure they’re wonderful, charming individuals… but for their own sake, I hope they *never* become popular in the United States. Too many idiot humans, with too many guns, and also: coyotes.
NaijaGal
Apparently, outside of the Lord of The Rings, Nazgul is a common Turkish or Persian name for girls/women meaning “Shy Rose.” It can also be rearranged (i.e., Gulnaz instead of Nazgul).
NaijaGal
@les:
Whoops, noticed your response outside the delete window for mine.
Anonymous At Work
Sadly, I’m going to guess the reason isn’t a good one. Italian fascists are quite fond of Tolkien, especially the racial superiority and segregation.
moonbat
When I heard that he started out chasing one of the tracking cameras, my first thought was, “Krypto, get the toy!”
Kayla Rudbek
@rikyrah: I told Cheryl Rofer over on Bluesky that we are going to have to clean out the Patent and Trademark Office once we get this maladministration out. Too many fools down on their knees to the techbros over there. At least the Copyright Office has been holding the line so far (although I have many bones to pick with the district court judges about using copyrighted material as training data without permission of the copyright holders. It’s just like Napster in my arrogant opinion and it’s NOT fair use)