Australian race walker Dane Bird-Smith trains with his dogs, an Italian greyhound and a chihuahu

THE Olympics may be five months away but Australia already has its first great Rocky story.

Dane Bird-Smith walking with his dogs Pina and Rocky. Pic Peter Wallis

THE Olympics may be five months away but Australia already has its first great Rocky story.

That is Rocky the Chihuahua, the tiny training companion of Rio-bound walker Dane Bird-Smith.

Bird-Smith has two dogs and the other one, Italian greyhound Pina, seems to relish the fact her owner is a walker and takes her on his training around the streets of St Lucia, Brisbane.

Too much walking is not enough for Pina.

But Rocky, with legs as long as a carrot stick? Let’s just say he sucks it up and does a little job for his country.

“Little Rocky does unbelievably well. If dogs had Olympics he would be up there for the fittest Chihuahua in the world,’’ Bird-Smith said.

“He has got a lot of ticker. Pina, the greyhound, just gets along into a pace and sticks by my side. But with Rocky I take about one stride to about 40 from him.

“When you put the pace on, his tiny little legs are funny to watch.’’

The walker’s life is a different one. Because they compete on roads they like to train on roads which means Bird-Smith and his entourage need to have their wits about them.

“On the roads it is one of those ‘might is right’ situations. If I see cars coming I duck out of the way.

“Every training session I try to simulate the conditions similar to where I am racing.

Dane Bird-Smith walking with his dogs Pina and Rocky.

“We are competing in the Colosseum in Rome, which is mainly a cobblestone road, so I have been training around the South Bank area and the Botannical Gardens which have surfaces a bit like that.’’

Bird-Smith is one of the unsung rising stars of Australian athletics.

He is ranked the world’s No.1 walker over the non-Olympic 5km and fifth in the Olympic distance of 20km.

It was a special moment when he was named for Rio because his father and coach David, competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympcis and finished 10th at the 1984 LA Games.

Dane made his Australian walking debut in Moscow on the same course his father competed at in the Olympics.

“All my life I have been surrounded by the track,’’ he said. “The week I was born dad took me to training. I do recall at some stage being pushed around in a pram on a track.

“I have a lot of inspiration from him. To see him carrying the Sydney Olympic torch really ignited my dream. As a coach he knows the in and outs of race walking and technique.

“Living here with dad and mum it gets a bit topsy turvey when I am tired from training and I talk to dad and there came be a few little butts of heads.

“That is always going to happen but it works really well because we have that trust in each other.’’

Originally published as Australian race walker Dane Bird-Smith trains with his dogs, an Italian greyhound and a chihuahu