Dogs from around the community and beyond took on dock diving Friday, Sept. 19 at Splashdown Dog Sports in Bainbridge through a competition hosted by North American Diving Dogs.
The competition runs through the weekend, ending Sunday, Sept. 21, and features three dock diving disciplines. It draws dogs and their owners to Bainbridge from areas local as well as neighborhoods further away, in states like Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Nanci Miller, the owner of Splashdown Dog Sports, said this event is themed “battle of the breeds,” where owners trash talk each breed to each other “all in fun.” It is the first event of the 2026 season.
“It’s just fun to come out and see what the dogs do,” Miller said. “The most fun for me is to watch the dogs grow throughout the season.”
Matt Lord, one of the competition judges from the Albany area, said Friday’s competition started at 9:30 a.m. with a distance splash, followed by distance splashes at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
The hydro dash was scheduled to be held at 4:30 p.m., but an early hydro dash was offered after the 11 a.m. distance splash due to a break in the schedule.
The main event is distance jump, in which each dog has three minutes on the dock, with one optional practice jump and two judged jumps, Lord said. The longest of the jumps would be the dog’s qualifying score, according to the North American Diving Dogs website.
The judge measures where the base of the dog enters the water, Lord added. There are two specialty events as well — the hydro dash and air retrieve.
In the hydro dash, a timed event, a toy is held at the end of the pool, and the dog must jump in, retrieve it and come back. During the air retrieve event, the toy is hung above the pool and moves out in one-foot increments.
“The dog has to jump and retrieve the toy from the rig, and it moves out, and your score is whatever your biggest grab was,” Lord said.
As of noon Friday, about 20 dogs had signed up to compete, but Vickie Anderson, a dog owner from Bainbridge, said weekends typically draw even more people.
Lord added that his Australian Shepperd Kane, who is 5-and-a-half years old, was set to compete in the 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. splashes.
“It’s so much fun to see all of the dogs up there and people improving and just having fun,” Lord said. “I know personally, my dog Kane, he’s obsessed with jumping in the pool. He just absolutely loves it.”
Lord said Kane has been diving since 2022, and Lord is starting his third judging season this year.
Miller said there are six events held each year, beginning Memorial Day weekend. Each event is either three or four days long.
Kiersten Hartnagel, the owner of Goomba, a half-lab half-golden who competed in the 11 a.m. distance splash, said she fist got involved in dock diving at the end of the 2023 season, starting at the Bainbridge dock. She said her favorite discipline is air retrieve, adding that the sport provides a “cute little community where everyone’s super welcoming.”
She said the two first got into the sport because Goomba is a service dog.
“It’s a good outlet for her to give her a place to let loose,” Hartnagel said. “She’s a hard working girl. What I enjoy the most is seeing her be her unhinged self.”