Houston — By Christina Uticone on July 1, 2010 at 7:00 am
Filed under: dogs, event, featuredarticle

Dock Dogs at Discovery Green

If cookouts and fireworks don’t do it for you this Independence Day weekend, how about some canine competition in the middle of downtown Houston? Dock Dogs is coming to Discovery Green for three days of amazing, big-jumping competition from July 2-4.

Unlike dog shows like Westminster, Dock Dogs is open to pups of all ages, breeds, and backgrounds. No need to dig out any papers on purebred status – the Dock Dogs competitions are equal opportunity: old and young, mutts and purebred, experienced competitors and newbies are welcome. As they say, “Anyone with a Dog and a Ball or Toy Can Compete”. The premise is simple: dogs with the longest or highest jump off of a dock and into water wins! You may have seen a Dock Dog competition on television; they have been shown on the Outdoor Channel, ABC and ESPN. There are three event formats this weekend: Outdoor Big Air, Extreme Vertical & Extreme Retrieve. The Big Air competition is scored based on the distance a dog jumps from the end of a dock and into a pool; Extreme Vertical is scored based on the height that a dog jumps from the end of a dock, grabbing an object suspended over the pool of water; Extreme Retrieve is scored based on the time it takes for a dog to jump into a pool of water, swim to the end of the pool, and retrieving an object located at the end of the pool.

In addition to three full days of jumping, leaping, running and retrieving, there will also be a special movie screening! On Saturday July 3 at 8:30 PM the hilarious Christopher Guest film “Best in Show” will be shown, free to the public. “Best in Show” is a “behind-the-scenes” send-up of the dog show world starring (among others) Parker Posey, Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean and Eugene Levy.