{"id":7638,"date":"2026-02-22T00:15:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T00:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=7638"},"modified":"2026-02-22T00:15:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T00:15:30","slug":"at-first-they-thought-it-was-fake-then-the-panic-hit-%f0%9f%98%b1%f0%9f%90%ba-when-footage-surfaced-showing-the-varesco-familys-wolfdog-nazgul-sprinting-onto-an-ol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=7638","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAt first they thought it was fake\u2026 then the panic hit.\u201d \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udc3a When footage surfaced showing the Varesco family\u2019s wolfdog Nazgul sprinting onto an Olympic cross-country course, what felt \u201cunreal\u201d quickly spiraled into dread. The questions came fast. The fear came faster. And the detail they later revealed changes everything about how that chaotic moment is remembered. Watch the panic unfold in the shocking video below. \ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Varesco family left their home in Tesero, Italy, to attend a biathlon event at the Winter Olympics, they believed their two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog, Nazgul, was safely secured in his kennel. What they didn\u2019t know was that, while they were away, Nazgul would escape the house and unexpectedly become part of the Milano Cortina Games \u2014 running straight onto the nearby Olympic cross-country course and charging down the finishing stretch alongside competing skiers.<\/p>\n

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The family was already traveling to Anterselva when the moment unfolded.<\/p>\n

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\"Owners<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were on the train to Anterselva to watch the biathlon,\u201d Alice Varesco told Reuters on Friday.
\u201cWe were three hours from home when friends started sending us videos. That was the panic moment. We realised we could not do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For several surreal seconds during the qualifying races, spectators believed a wolf had made its way onto the course. In reality, it was Nazgul \u2014 silver-grey, alert, and fully focused \u2014 instinctively chasing the skiers ahead. His presence was later confirmed when he appeared in an official photo-finish image, which is how Alice and Ernesto Varesco knew for certain it was their dog.<\/p>\n

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Alice said the emotional impact lingered long after Nazgul was brought to safety.<\/p>\n

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\u201cConcern, for sure,\u201d she said of her first reaction.
\u201cIt was with us the whole day actually. Even after they told us he was safe, we kept thinking about what could have gone wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the family, Nazgul had never escaped on his own before. They believe he may have been frustrated at being left behind and repeatedly pushed a lever until it loosened, eventually managing to open the door.<\/p>\n

\"Owners<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe wanted to look for us I think because he\u2019s used \u2026 to going in that direction with us when we go for a walk,\u201d Alice said.
\u201cHe likes to stay with his crew.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Race officials responded swiftly, with the race director catching Nazgul inside the venue. Within half an hour, family members had brought him home safely. By that time, however, videos of the moment had already spread rapidly online.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEveryone was sending us videos and pictures. At a certain point we just closed the phone because it was impossible,\u201d Alice added.
\u201cWe were in Anterselva with small kids and we said we need to be here and we\u2019ll look at everything later.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since then, security around Nazgul\u2019s kennel has been reinforced to ensure there\u2019s no repeat during the upcoming 50-kilometre races, which the family plans to watch from home \u2014 with Nazgul firmly in sight. Above all, the Varescos say they are relieved the incident ended safely and without disruption.<\/p>\n

\"Olympics-Owners<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe did not think this could be possible, but generally the reaction was people loved him,\u201d Alice said.
\u201cAnd it\u2019s good that nothing happened and it was going in a positive way, so everybody was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Varesco family left their home in Tesero, Italy, to attend a biathlon event at the Winter Olympics, they believed their two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog, Nazgul, was… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7640,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7638\/revisions\/7640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}