If your family has visited Champaign’s Eisner Park, chances are you’ve met Wrigley the dog.
Wrigley has reached “Chambana Celebrity Dog” level. The almost 6-year-old chiweenie (a cross between a chihuahua and a dachsund) has earned her reputation thanks to a dazzling doggie personality which has elevated her to favorite neighborhood dog status.
Not only is she super sweet and friendly – but Wrigley is the dog who goes down slides. That’s right, a dog who gleefully runs up and down the playground equipment.
And Eisner Park in old town Champaign is the place she enjoys the most.
Wrigley’s human, Dan Hughes, is a retiree. The two live just three blocks from the park, and they often visit it twice a day.
“One day soon after she was out of puppyhood, I put a dog cookie at the bottom of the slide and gave her a shove from the top. She was immediately ready to go again! She can now figure out how to get up and down most any slide we come across,” Hughes said.
In the video above, Wrigley runs under the slanted platform, then up the ramp, turns the corner to the next ramp, turns the corner to the round tube, then flies down the slide.
“You’ve gotta see it to believe it,” Hughes said.
Wrigley (who came home the week the Cubs won the World Series in 2016) might love slides, but she loves kids even more.
“I generally have a bag of small dog cookies in my pocket, and the neighborhood kids often come running when they see us, with ‘Can I give Wrigley a cookie?’ They like to hide the cookie in one hand and make Wrigley sniff each hand to find the cookie,” Hughes told Chambanamoms.com. “Often when we’re approaching the park, the kids already there will yell, ‘Here comes Wrigley!’ First time that happened, I was flabbergasted. Sure is a great feeling!”
