SPLASH! High Jumpin’ Dock Dogs

If you’ve witnessed a Dock Dogs event, you know that it has harnessed a magical combination of ingredients to spellbind audiences. Joyous dogs performing athletic feats? Check. Multigenerational competitors, aka the ever-popular kids-with-dogs element? Check. A water element? Check! (Don’t ask us why this always ups the ante, but it does). Best of all, not only is it an all-ages crowd pleaser, it also welcomes all participants and all dogs—any breed, any size, any mix, as long as they’re more than six months old—and doesn’t require much more than enthusiasm. Sounds like our kind of sport!

Last year Dock Dogs thrilled more than 2.3 million people in its three disciplines, Big Air (long jump), Extreme Vertical (high jump), and Speed Retrieve (sprint) at competitions held at festivals, fairs, home shows, and the like.

So how can your dog become one of these high-jumping heroes? As long as your dog has a toy drive and is comfortable around or in the water he can be a Dock Dog. And there really is no training.

“You can train an hour before your first event and have your dog do it. It’s what makes it very unique,” explains Grant Reeves, CEO of Dock Dogs. In fact, that’s the key to the sports’ appeal and success. The best thing about the sport, Reeves tells us, is that anybody can do it with any dog. “We have three big things: zero discrimination, we promote rescue—in fact, four out of five champions are rescue dogs—and, most importantly, we really do want people to interact.”

To this end, Dock Dogs is developing an app that they plan to release in July that will allow the audience to text in their favourite dog, making for even more fun and audience involvement.

Want to participate? There are 41 affiliated clubs throughout the US and Canada that run fun jumps, practices, and events. Visit dockdogs.com to find one near you. Then, says Reeves, “just take your dog out and absolutely have a blast.”