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 Dogs
made a splash all day long and drew crowds of dog-lovers to watch
the competition. Dock Dogs International provides a 36 by 8 foot
water tank and a dock, while dog handlers from miles around bring
their pups to compete in three disciplines hosted by the Dock Dogs
team: Big Air, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve. The Big Air
event is a distance event in which dogs compete to jump the farthest
from the dock into the water. The Extreme Vertical measures the
dog’s vertical leap, and the Speed Retrieve measures how fast a dog
can fetch an object in water.
Saturday’s Dock Dogs events included three heats or “waves” of Big
Air and a Big Air final at 7 p.m. At 5:00 p.m., Dock Dogs hosted
Speed Retrieve All-in-One Finals. The competition included dogs from
Illinois and surrounding states. The dog and handler team have 60
seconds from the time they enter the dock to complete the jump. Only
one handler may be on the dock with the dog and giving commands,
with the exception of Speed Retrieve All-in-One-Finals, in which
case two handlers are allowed. Practice times are available before
the event begins and between heats, and some spectators stayed
around between events to watch the doggos practice jumping into the
water.
According to the Dock Dogs Rules and Policies manual, the Speed
Retrieve “scoring is based on time. The dog will run, jump from the
end of the dock into the water and swim towards the end of the pool
to retrieve the object. The Team with the fastest time wins.” The
object which the dog retrieves is a “double roped white foam bumper
with alternating 2” black/white stripes. It is approximately 1½
inches in diameter and 12 inches in length which is located on an
extender towards the end of the pool. The object is suspended 2”
from the bottom of the object off the surface of the water.” Each
dog has two opportunities to retrieve, and the faster of the two
times is recorded as the score.
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The jumps are “determined by electronic measurement
of the time for the completed retrieve, which [is] measured in
1000th second increments (00.000) from the starting block to the
retrieval of the object.” In the event of technology failure,
judging is done manually by two certified timing judges and a line
judge. The average of the two timing judges’ times is the official
time.
Dock Dogs is celebrating its 25th year in 2024. What began with one
dock and one pool now has multiple events around the United States
and even events in Rome, Italy and in Australia. This year’s season
began September 11, 2023 and runs through September 15, 2024
Every year Dock Dog world championships are held in Dubuque, Iowa.
The finals utilize a four-tier system: amateur, contender, semi-pro,
and professional. This year’s world championship will take place
October 21 through 27, 2024. The top three dogs in the finals of
every event qualify to compete in the world championship.
[Stephanie Hall]
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