The Belmont Stakes final running at Saratoga Race Course may have been the best attended sporting event of the weekend, but down in Clifton Park, another pack was barking up a different tree.
In the parking lot of Benson’s Pet Center in Clifton Park, a 45-foot long above-ground pool is filled with a mixture of water and dog hair.
At regular intervals, dogs of all shapes and sizes take turns jumping, flopping, or tumbling into the water at various angles of entry – the splash zone is only marked by wet asphalt.
DockDogs has been running the annual diving competition here since 2016, though they had to skip a year during the COVID pandemic.
The sport officially took off in the United States in 1997, dominated by retrievers and labradors. Today, competitions take place across the globe with the most successful competitors being a mix of whippets and other traditional racing breeds.
Behind the dock, a handful of four-legged competitors and two-legged trainers are waiting in line to jump.
Among them are Karen Bowman and 9-year-old golden retriever, Bo.
“So, his big brother is the one who got us into this sport, they were full siblings three years apart. Baxter just lived for this. He jumped into our koy pond at 13 weeks of age and we knew we had to find something water to do,” said Bowman.
Bo, now almost completely white in the face from age, is relatively docile compared to the restless shepherds and pit-mixes in line.
Bowman says the calm doesn’t last.
“He’s mellow until he’s in line or until he sees his little brother on the dock. When he’s up there his favorite is extreme vertical. He’s not going as high as he used to. His personal best was 5”10’ in front of a packed crowd at the L.L. Bean in Maine a few summers ago. If we hit 4”10’, 4”8’ we’re happy now. But he still loves it, and if he still loves it that’s all that matters,” said Bowman.
While Bo is a bit timid on his second jump, some of his competitors launch nearly 20 feet from the dock – more competitive events can see jumps upward of 30 feet.
Trainer Nicky Russell is standing at the other end of the pool. She’s says it’s all in the paws.
“It all depends on the dog. They must have—to have a good dog, they really must like the water, they must have toy drive. And that will make a big jumping dog. You can pretty much train any dog to do it,” said Russell.
Aside from the main pool, the event has several kiddie pools around so even non-competing dogs get to make a splash.
JoAnne Verderosa is holding a shivering jack Russell terrier named Vito who has no plans of touching any water.
“He likes to swim and he loves to play fetch but he doesn’t put the two together,” said Vederosa.
The parking lot itself is filled with vendors and spectators – Benson’s Pet Center manager Moira Nowc says it’s great to see the annual event grow.
“My favorite part personally is when all of the competitors come in and then year after year we do limited quantity shirt releases. We were sold out of shirts by 10:30 in the morning, they got in line at 7:30 to get them. We do a different picture of a different dog from the previous year’s competition. So, this is Grim, on our shirt and that’s my favorite part—they get really into it, they get excited, they hype it up. And then when it’s over,” said Nowc.
C.J. Austin has been emceeing this year’s competition – he’s been involved with the sport since he was 8-years-old.
“Some people do lots of practice, sometimes their couch potato at home will come out and just love it. I’ve seen Pomeranians, Yorkies, Chihuahuas, all the way to Great Danes and Greyhounds jumping with dock dogs,” said Austin.
Austin says the dock diving community is like no other.
“Everybody comes together. If you need something, everybody joins together and helps. Dog people help dog people, cat people help cat people,” said Austin.
