Lottery looks for dogs to go on tickets

Forget photogenic felines. Camera-loving canines are the focus of the Iowa Lottery’s latest contest. Spokeswoman Mary Neubauer says the search is on for Iowa’s hot dogs.The Lottery wants people to send in pictures of their dogs and the top six images will be used on a scratch-off game, “Dog-Gone Lucky,” that’ll come out this fall. The owners of the winning dogs will each get 500-dollars from the Lottery, 50-dollar gift cards from Petco, and other prizes. To enter, Neubauer says dog owners will have to stop by Petco stores in three Iowa metro areas: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City. Posters announcing the contest feature Iowa’s “first dog,” Rosie, a Labrador owned by Governor Vilsack and his wife Christie. Neubauer says Iowa cat owners who complain about this statewide dogs-only contest are barking up the wrong tree. This is the Iowa Lottery’s first dog contest. A cat contest was held in the early 90s, “Fat Cat,” during which people were invited to bring in their celebrity look-alike cats.