Amid knives, shotguns, and taxidermied deer heads, happy dogs draw a crowd in a Harrisburg

HARRISBURG — A little gray in the face and a bit round in the ribs, Rosey the black Labrador stood on an elevated dock, her eyes locked on a piece of rubber dangling above a makeshift pool 40 feet away.

Cold water dripped off Rosey’s coat and a handful of dogs — her competitors — were barking in puddles below. There were other Labradors, of course, dogs born to get wet, and at least one Belgian Malinois too, a breed that often leaps fences to tackle fleeing suspects.

While former president Donald Trump would be headlining this arena at the Great American Outdoor Show later in the week, the few thousand gun enthusiasts in the seats there on this Saturday afternoon came to see some superathletes.

“Give it up for Rosey,” an announcer urged the crowd. “She’s 12 years old guys, and still doing it.”

Rosey’s owner, Trisha McGahhey, held the dog gently by the hips. Just before a starting light turned green, she kissed Rosey on the head and let go, cheering as the dog hurtled down the dock, launched into the 26,000-gallon pool, and swam for the rubber “bumper.”

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go,” McGahhey yelled as the dog ran.

Competitive dock dog competitions, according to the publication Whole Dog Journal, likely first started in England in the 1970s but grew in popularity, particularly in the United States, in the late ‘90s and early 2000s with events like the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge and the inaugural ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

Others say the competitiveness has likely been around for centuries, with hunters bragging about their dog’s leaping abilities. That’s how lumberjack competitions began and competitive boat docking events on the Chesapeake Bay.

“It was probably a case of ‘my dog can jump further off the dock than yours’,” said Angela Jones, a Hanover, York County, native.

In 2005, Jones took her dog, Nestle, to the ESPN Outdoor Games in Orlando. Described by one dock dog website as a “powerhouse Chocolate Labrador from the east coast,” Nestle went on to win the competition and more events from Maine to Florida. The late Nestle is a member of both the Dock Dogs and Keystone DockDogs Worldwide Halls of Fame, and Jones, a high school teacher and track coach, knew he was a star before he was house-trained.

“Right away, he was a very confident dog,” she said. “It didn’t take too much to coax him into anything.”

Keystone DockDogs, an affiliate of a larger DockDogs organization, was started in 2005 in Pennsylvania. Travis Reish, Keystone’s president, said there are about 100 members in the state, including dogs and their handlers, and about 200 events per year nationwide. The competitions include “big air,” which is a dog high jump, “extreme vertical,” similar to a long jump, and “speed retrieval,” which is a timed event. In Harrisburg, dogs were also competing in “dueling dogs,” a sort-of dog drag race described by one enthusiast group as the “next big thing for canine aquatic sports.”

“I think, when you come to one of these events, you’re going to see some dogs that do some amazing things,” Reish said. “People in the audience get to wonder about their own dog back home, that there’s a potentially a world champion on their couch.”

Any dog can, technically, jump into the water. Great Danes, Chinese crested hairless, and St. Bernards have done it. Jack Russell terriers could be world champions (there is a lapdog division) if they weren’t so small.

Even an English bulldog could be a dock dog.

“They can swim, but I wouldn’t want to jump a bulldog without a life jacket. They’re too round,” said Mindy Len, a Maryland-based dog trainer who attended this week’s events in Harrisburg. “I’ve taught a pug to do this. You can teach anything to jump.”

While retriever dogs dominated in the early days, competition bred some creativity, literally. One of the best breeds for diving, today, is a “whipper snapper,” a mix of a whippet and Belgian Malinois. Whippets are known for their speed and the Malinois, which resembles a smaller German shepherd, has made headlines in recent years for their roles in police and military operations. They are super athletes, able to leap fences, and require a level of exercise and interaction many pet owners aren’t prepared for.

“I think all of the dock dogs are similar in that they need a job to do,” Reish said. “That goes for the Malinois too.”

Whippets have also been mixed with Jack Russells for dock diving, a combination of speed and tenacity.

Len, who focuses most of her training on dock dogs, was holding a wet Belgian Malinois named Razr in her arms like a kitten, though, so how difficult could they be?

“You should not get one, if you’re not prepared to do the work,” Len said.

America, a chocolate Lab, had come from a whole family tree of divers from up and down the East Coast.

“Your daddy’s a dock dog, isn’t he?” said Evan Beatty of Hershey.

In the winter, when outdoor facilities are closed, some dogs will move to the handful of indoor facilities around the country. Others will hit the treadmill and hunt down plastic disks.

“Lots of Frisbee,” one owner said.

McGahhey, of Vineland, said Rosey’s nearing the end of her career. She rescued the dog about four years ago, when she was “skin and bones” and turned her into a diver.

“I don’t have to say much to her, cause she’s been doing it for a long time. She knows what to do,” McGahhey said. “I just give her a kiss up there cause she’s old, and I love her.”