Three-day 'Dog Days' festival in Libertyville is all canine
Dog is definitely man's best friend, the kind of friend that will jump off a platform into a 27,000-gallon pool just to retrieve some stupid toy you threw in.
Dogs were flying all over the place Friday, as the DockDogs Big Air Dog Jumping competition kicked off Libertyville Dog Days of Summer, a weekend event dedicated to canine companions of every stripe.
Dozens of professional jumping dogs convened at the PNC Bank parking lot, 325 N. Milwaukee Ave., for the Big Air competition. Dogs charged down a platform and leapt into a 27,000 gallon pool, going to maximum distance.
For Burr Ridge resident Pam Dural, dock jumping is a way of letting her Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Betty, do what she loves. Betty is the only one of her four terriers that likes water, she said.
"We just started taking her, and she just started jumping," said Dural, who has entered Betty in DockDogs competitions for three years.
Kagney, a Belgian Malinois, was a natural, owner Carol Meyers said. She used to watch Kagney amuse herself by jumping off the pier into the lake where they live in Braidwood. Later, she heard about the sport.
"Now we don't just do it for fun at home; we do it for practice," Meyers said.
Some dogs can take it or leave it. Chicagoland DockDogs member Jerry Sentowski said sometimes his yellow lab, Bobber, sits down on the platform and doesn't want to jump. When it was Bobber's turn to compete Friday, he shied away from the water.
Still, Sentowski, and his wife, Diane, have been competing in dock jumping for five years.
"We come out here just to have fun," he said. "There are up days and down days."
The DockDogs competition continues Saturday with the Extreme Vertical event, where dogs jump off the dock and try to knock off a bumper suspended in the air. Sunday concludes the competition with Speed Retrieve, where the dogs are judged on how fast they run down the platform, jump into the water and retrieve a toy.
Ten local dogs will show off their jumping skills at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and compete to be named "Libertyville's Big Air Dog," said Bill Kaiser, owner of Pampered Pupz, which sponsors Dog Days.
Other Dog Days events include paw-nail painting at Touché Salon, veterinarian consultations and a dog fashion show. There will be canine-friendly dining in Cook Park or on the outdoor patios of Egg Harbor Café, 545 North and Mickey Finn's.