When commercial interest promotes mass consumption, lowers the quality of the sport, endangers soundness and well-being of animals, and opens the gate for sandbaggers.
One of the large entities that host dock diving events on national levels as well as being an American Kennel Club (AKC) affiliate offers a very unique model to qualify for their annual year-end event featuring the North American dock dog diving championships. One way to get there is through the simple accumulation of thirty jumps within a designated division or fifteen jumps in a special discipline, such as air retrieve or hydro dash. This must be done within a current season and since jumps do not expire, it can also be done through a sequence of seasons. The only performance that actually matters is staying within the margin of the division at which the dog is ranked. Basically all that one has to do is pay for and complete the entries: $840 within a season at minimum for distance jumps or $420 for a special discipline. It does not matter whether you are at the lower end or middle of the pack (of competitors): pay and are on your way. And eventually, you hope for a burst of talent and energy – or knowingly have prepared for such outcome using the title card wisely – to get a final slice… if that even matters.
The business logic of that system is not only very revenue-friendly by creating gigantic fields of the “I’m just glad to be here” folks paying $75 a pop at the year-end finals, it promotes an oversized crowd that is nearly impossible to effectively manage, which then leads to inappropriate conditions promoted by all who are involved. It also caters to limited or non-competitive dogs and the emotional stage of their handlers. The AKC will recognize the very simple fact that someone launched their dog thirty times (and unfortunately, that number can reach into the hundreds) off of a dock and into a pool, so they issue a credential of outstanding performance which can get framed and hung on the wall. These are bragging rights of the engaged human. A dog truly never cares about a title certificate nor does it know what level of venue it is at, whether it has been part of the US Championships, or has qualified or competed at those events. But to the human, it is of superior ideological and emotionally rewarding value. Winning even when losing seems to be all that matters. d
One can see very clearly through the overall company strategy what the real message is. Qualifications are easily available and possible through a “you win and you are in” system. The ranking criteria has a narrow margin for success by limiting entries to one per qualifier where other companies offer four entries but absolutely no title option. Further, the act of allowing only the top ten of the season into the field for the finals channels the vast majority of competitors towards the title route. Now you may ask: why is all of this bad?
SOUNDNESS & WELL-BEING
We will focus is on the main actor: the dog. The starting allowance age of a puppy that is eligible to jump with that organization is six months. Yes, six months to drop off a 2’6″ dock, chasing after an obstacle of desire while being energetic, playful, willing, and seemingly in need of a serious workout. As a reminder, the maturity level of dogs circulates around 12 to 18 months of margin and the larger, heavier breeds can take even more time.
There is no daily limit to entries at the so-called “cluster shows” which enables one to jump four times a day – at least twice plus eventual practice, warmup, and possible “try it” jumps – which at best ends up with an estimated 48 attempts, of which 16 will count towards a title. Most dogs are actively jumping each day of a four-day event. Younger dogs undergo serious repetitive risk exposure to slipping, sliding, and foremost severely challenging body impacts. And at this young age there is still a huge deficit in proper coordination and balance without much in the way of self-preservative judgement. The bones, joints, and soft tissue are still undergoing growth spurts and firming up procedures, mildly strengthening exercise with caution would be the proper way to go.
I have seen a Vizsla at a breed show who was approximately seven months of age jumping sensationally into the twenty-foot range, but not just once or twice. Every break there was between rounds, the owner paid for a “try it” and jumped the dog, over and over again, thrilled by the spectators’ attention without any real training goal in mind. Similarly, there was a case of a young dog with a milder form of hip dysplasia who was very clearly moving three-legged-lame down the dock, the facility operators fully aware of the fact yet not pulling the dog or trying to make the owner aware. Might be bad for business!
Once one title is accumulated, the dog will eventually be moved on to the next discipline, collecting more jumps as they go. Even the hall of fame nomination and criteria revolves around, you guessed it, the number of jumps leading to excellent title VIII. Compressed risk exposure for any animal through a human who is chasing merits over collecting jumps at an obsessive pace without any real true performance value will lead to a higher amount of serious injuries. This practice of using up animals at very young age estranges the handler from reality. Poorly conditioned and physically unfit dogs of any age undergo the “collector item” mentality of their owners can and will be severely damaged quickly.
QUALITY OF THE SPORT
National championships feature the very best of the country. They are the ultimate reflection and most transparent outing that the interested public gets to see. It is not the whole football league who buys their way to the Superbowl. There is a selective process in place supporting the quality of competition and also the conditions under which they are being held. The only way to get to finals must be as a direct qualifier, a seasonal final standing, or a win at an event final. Boring huge fields with rather limited looking jumps are a turn-off and nobody truly wants to sit and wait for decades to come, to see their favorite team on a livestream. Huge numbers of participants with only two docks available (2019 finals in Orlando, for example) leads to a stressful 90 seconds of dog practice, getting lost while not being able to find the pool exit, and distressed animal behaviors on display for the world to see. The handling of a rather sensitive animal, one that requires proper warm ups and decent practice time to get used to the environment, or the animal just needing to get off the ramp to simply being able to know where the “emergency” exit is becomes at times an impossible mission. Less is truly more when it comes to proper advertising for a great sport.
SANDBAGGING
Some handlers will no longer pay any attention to the physical, emotional, and actual real-time performance level of their dog. They get to the championship competitions with an, at times, zero percent competitive animal. But then there are more tricky owners going this route that truly happened; they qualified their dog, who all year has been around the seventy jumps level with an average distance of roughly 18 feet and never able to excel above that distance, then suddenly is at finals and finds their dog is being very competitive with top (distance) scores within the upper marks of 19 feet. It is very possible to work with positional placing or toy placement to control and manipulate actual length scores and keep the (score) number in the middle of the pack. The large number of outings would create the impression that this is truly the best that the dog can do. It is interesting, however, that in this particular case when the exhibition happens at a national qualifier or the championships, there is always some form of a notable almost miraculous outburst and increase performance quality which catapults the team into serious contender levels. Might it be that the dog knows about the prestige it is about to receive, such as winning? Also, in a much longer time frame, this particular handler might even end up becoming a hall of famer, completing up to some 500 jumps or better in that same division and going to nationals every year until the end of days using titles.
The title qualification modus lacks transparency. After all, it truly puts the well-being of some animals in real jeopardy and opens the door for questionable show strategies. Additionally, from an American Kennel Club (AKC) recognition standpoint, the true value of the certificate is on the very low end of selectively accrediting individual dogs for rather outstanding accomplishments. It basically states that the particular animal was able to jump tens of dozens of hundreds of times from a dock in a pool without any comparison of true performance that is based on credible, valuable standards. Just imagine getting a title for Fido jumping in your backyard pond every day retrieving his beloved stick, taking 30 short video clips and then off you go to nationals with the mindset of being an excellent water jumper. Those practices do not support a productive process trying to improve the quality of training, shows, breeding, or whatever other accompanying intention. For this reason, this topic must be seriously revisited not only to create a better concept but to also maintain superior integrity when it comes to agility performances.
US Championships, medals, ribbons, and titles are something very special, something that underscores performances of value and one should get there demonstrating masterful art and skill. As of today, a triple contender in water sports gets zero titles despite being a fully finished or well-rounded dog doing all disciplines. Throwing classical principles totally over board, creating mass consumption incentives at dramatic discounts where the true sport no longer matters cannot be the new mission statement for a nationally and internationally recognized organization like the AKC; particularly not when the profit is made through animal performances. There are much better ways of creating revenue, but they require in-depth thoughts that are distant from plain commercial interest. Class matters here: don’t forget the dogs!
