Big air wave, speed retrieval and extreme vertical competitions — what do they have to do with the upcoming East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships?
Go to Kugler Field in Washington the weekend of Feb. 8-10 and find out. One could say the festival is going to the dogs — DockDogs to be precise.
The Washington DockDogs competitions come in four categories — leaping for distance, vertical jumps, speed (timed) retrievals and Iron Dog (a sort of triathlon involving Big Air Wave, Extreme Vertical and Speed Retrieve categories).
The dog that jumps the farthest, leaps the highest or retrieves the fastest in a specific division wins that division.
“We don’t really give out the exact number of preregistered teams or anything, but I can tell you there are a fair number of dogs registered and it should be a good event,” said Brian King with DockDogs Worldwide on Tuesday. “It looks like there are four different teams the are currently registered for Iron Dog at the moment.”
Prize money, which comes from entry fees of $25 (preregistration) $30 (on-site registration) per dog, is awarded to top-finishing dogs. Online preregistration closes Feb. 4. To register online, visit www.dockdogs.info/index.a5w.
There are professional, semi-professional and novice divisions, and area residents may enter their dogs in the competitions.
This year’s DockDogs event, part of the National Sportsmen’s Series, ends a three-year contract between the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild, organizers of the festival, and DockDogs Worldwide.