ETSU Basketball hosts Third Annual JC Honda Small Dog Race Wednesday, Feb. 25

As ETSU Basketball closes out its regular season, halftime will feature a high-stakes, cutthroat competition: The Small Dog Race presented by Johnson City Honda. 

Returning for its third season, the Johnson City Honda Small Dog Race has become a fan favorite event and brought in spectators from all over the Johnson City area. 

At halftime, competitors will hit the floor. For each racer, their owners will line up on either side of the court. No timeouts. No substitutions. Only speed, strength and determination. The first dog to run from one owner to the other will take the victory and the grand prize. 

Contributed/ETSU Athletics

This year, Johnson City Honda has upped the ante with a prize of a $1000 PetSmart gift card. 

With the significant increase in the prize, there were many, many interested individuals. Across 75 inquiries, the lineup of 8 challengers was revealed at the ETSU Men’s Basketball game against Samford. 

John Moore gives insight into the selection process, “But to get these eight participants, we actually spun a wheel and randomly chose eight pups that way it was all at random, weren’t favoring one person. The only individual dog that we chose that would be in this year’s race was the winner from last year, that way we could have some competition.”

The returning champion would be Jubel, with a title to defend and a target on their collar. Only one other dog returns from the 2025 season, the marketing icon Poppy. Moore shares, “This is just how the wheel ended up as well when we spun it, but there was one other contestant last year racing again that we got great, we had great marketing images of… Poppy was the one that was the image of the event for all the marketing for this year.” 

The six newcomers include Remi, Oscar, Oliver, Molly, Fenrir and Dobby– each determined to bring home the championship. 

These eight dogs will take the court during halftime when ETSU Men’s Basketball hosts Wofford for the last home game of the 2025-26 regular season. Tip-off is set for 7 P.M. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Freedom Hall.