This year’s Summer Festival just got a little hairier. Dock Dogs, the most premier canine aquatics competition in the world, is coming to the banks of the Pamlico for the first time and will be open to the public to watch, free of charge, and to register their own furry companion.

“This is a nationally affiliated Dock Dogs event,” said Neil Woolard, Dock Dogs chairman for the 31st annual Washington Summer Festival. “This is like a circuit, and the (Dock Dogs competitors) out west will be at our event because they know they can earn points by coming to this event. This is an official, national thing, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the big boys.”

During the festival, a 20-by-8-foot long pool, as well as an 8-by-40-foot long stage will stretch transversely throughout the parking lot across from Festival Park next to Mayor Mac Hodges’ Water Street home.

A standard Dock Dog competition consists of three events: speed retrieve, the extreme vertical and the big air event, the most popular of the three among amateur competitors.

For those unfamiliar with the spectacle, the big air event is the equivalent to a long jump in track and field. The dog will be allowed a running start and attempt to propel itself off the stage and into the four-foot deep pool of water. Simply enough, whichever canine jumps the furthest is the winner, as the judges will measure the distance by determining where the tail hits the water.

The extreme vertical event is the Dock Dog equivalent to a human high jump. A bar with a dummy is placed on the edge of the pool, and each dog must lunge and grab the object, pulling it away from the bar entirely. The bar is raised with each successful jump.

The speed retrieve is a measure of each animal’s agility. Like the big air event, it requires dogs to boost themselves off the stage and into the water. However, this time they must swim the length of the pool to retrieve a dummy. The quickest time from jump to retrieve wins.

“The Iron Dog competition is an accumulation of all three,” Woolard said. “These pros that are coming will enter the Iron Dog. Most of the amateurs will pick one event, they may do two, but most of the time they’ll do the Big Air event.”

Woolard added, “It’s open to any breed, any mix and size to come out and participate, and they encourage the participants to practice in between all the events.”

The event will occur Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., as well as the following Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can register your dog by visiting www.dockdogs.com. Each event is $27 per team.