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Rules

What counts as a dog?

We are not arbiters of what constitutes a hot dog out in the real world. These rules are made up nonsense for the purposes of this competition. That said, they are binding as far as Dog Counter is concerned.

There are two ways to make sure your dog counts:

1. Eat a hot dog. The easiest way to make sure your dog is valid is to purchase and then eat a "hot dog". I am talking about something in a package that says "hot dogs" on it, or perhaps "franks". If you buy a hot dog, you can pretty much eat it however you want. Put it in a bun (the recommended and most acceptable form). Cut it up and put it in beans, chili, or spaghetti. Batter it and fry it (known colloquially as a "corn dog"). That's a hot dog. Blend it up and drink it? Gross, and if you do very much of that we'll probably change the rules to ban it. But for now, sure. Vegetarian hot dog? It's right in the name - that's a hot dog.

2. Eat a meat tube, dog-style. Is a bratwurst a hot dog? Is a Polish sausage a hot dog? They are if you put them in a bun and eat them with mustard. If you cut them up and put them in gumbo, then you're eating gumbo with sausage. That's not a hot dog.

   Breakfast links? No. That's breakfast food, not a dog.

   Ask yourself this. If I served these next to hot dogs at a Fourth of July cookout, would they look like more options in a great lineup of dogs? Or would they look out of place? You know it when you see it.

Dog size

There are no fractional dogs. A dog is a dog is 1 (one) dog. A plain undressed hot dog counts as 1, as does a footlong chili cheese dog with all the fixins.

It may be strategic based on these rules to focus your efforts on dogs that are on the smaller side.

That said, they'd better be full-sized dogs. Anything off a kids menu, with the word "mini" in front of it, or deemed a "cocktail" product is not a dog. You can't add these up to make dogs that count. A mini dog is not a dog, and adding a bunch of not dogs together does not a dog make.

Uploads

Upload one photo per dog to score points. If you get a tray of four dogs, that means you need to take four photos. Creativity is encouraged.

Dog Counter uses the timestamp in the image metadata to determine when the dog was eaten. If that fails, it uses the upload date. It doesn't really matter if something is off by a day or two as a result.

It would be possible to eat a bunch of dogs, photographing them along the way, but deliberately failing to upload the photos in a timely fashion in order to portray an inaccurate standing on the leaderboard. This form of sandbagging is not acceptable. It's all good if you're a day late uploading a photo, but not if it's at the end of the year. Use common sense and don't be a butthead.

Rule changes

The Dog Counter board of dogrectors reserves the right to adapt the rules throughout the year as needed to maintain the spirit of the competition as intended.

Prizes

The winner will receive nothing/pride/shame/a shortened lifespan.

FAQ

Why?

Jacob Wysocki and his friends apparently had a similar competition, and some ideas are too good to pass up.