Quirkiest bushfire fundraiser yet involves one man, 400 push-ups and three chihuahuas

A Sydney man has launched a unique fundraiser to benefit rural firefighters currently battling blazes … and it involves three chihuahuas.

Across the country, countless Australians are holding a variety of fundraisers from bake sales to raffles in aid of rural fireys and victims of the bushfires crisis.

A Sydney man wanted to do something a little outside of the box and the challenge he’s come up with is certainly that.

And it involves three chihuahuas.

Will Goodbourn, 30, who works in IT in the Harbour City, has watched on in horror as communities in most states and territories have grappled with devastating fires for months.

“I think almost everybody has some kind of connection to the fires,” Mr Goodbourn told news.com.au. “It’s just so widespread.”

His brother is a volunteer firefighter in country Victoria and has been out on the ground helping throughout summer.

Plus, a few of Mr Goodbourn’s mates have lost their properties in the merciless bushfires.

Will Goodbourn is holding a very unique fundraiser for rural firefighters with the help of his three chihuahuas.

“I wanted to do something to help out and I remember seeing someone do a push-ups challenge once and that kind of sparked this idea,” he said.

“But I thought if I did just push-ups, it wouldn’t get too much attention or raise much money. I mentioned it to a few friends and one suggested I do it with the dogs.”

And so, on January 26, Mr Goodbourn will do as many push-ups as he can in one hour with at least one of his three chihuahuas on his back at all times.

“There are a lot of fundraisers and lots of people are giving, so I figure this is a bit of a novelty that hopefully gets a few extra bucks,” he said.

Mr Goodbourn does a test run with Bean on his back.

Mr Goodbourn’s three dogs are two boys named Clam and Bean, who are three years old, and a girl named Olive, who’s two.

“I tested it out with one and he sat there the whole time on my back while I did push-ups,” he said.

“Bean was really happy. I think he’s too stupid to know what’s going on. You put him somewhere and he tends to not move until you shift him again. The problem was getting him off rather than keeping him on.”

Clam, Bean and Olive will be rotated in and out on the big day.

Mr Goodbourn says he wound up with three chihuahuas after getting ‘a bit carried away’.

He is holding a very unique fundraiser for rural firefighters.

On the day, Mr Goodbourn plans to rotate the three in and out with the help of a wrangler so there’s always at least one dog on his back.

Ahead of the big day, he’ll train with his PT to ensure he can hit his target of 400 push-ups. The dogs will get a bit of practice in for their roles too.

“I’ll put them on my back for the next few weeks to make sure they get used to it,” he said.

His donation page went live on Thursday and the response has been positive – and bemusing – already.

“It’s been really good. I set the target as $500. I didn’t want to be embarrassed by setting a big one that I couldn’t meet. I’m at that already, so it’s great. I’m keen to raise as much as possible to help our rural firefighters,” Mr Goodbourn said.

Mr Goodbourn will livestream his chihuahua push-ups challenge on Facebook.

Mr Goodbourn will livestream his challenge on Facebook so anyone who donates can tune in and see how he goes.

“It’s a way of showing how many push-ups I get – and letting anyone else watch and laugh at me,” he said.

If you want to support Mr Goodbourn’s fundraiser, head to his donation page - please note amounts are in US dollars