Leaping labs and other high-flying hounds soar at Libertyville Dog Days
As dogs barked in the background, the crowd in the bleachers set up in downtown Libertyville trained its gaze Sunday on a huge portable pool shaped like a big blue bathtub.
Suddenly, a man wearing a T-shirt and shorts knelt on the dock above the water and tossed out a red toy. A yellow Labrador retriever soared through the air in pursuit, before splashing down into the turquoise water to grab his quarry and swim back to the dock.
The distance of the jump was 21.5 feet for Arlington Heights resident Brian Tonkovic’s Labrador retriever Ozzy, one of the participants in the DockDogs Big Air Wave competition at the Libertyville’s Dog Days of Summer event.
Dogs and their owners came from across the Chicago region, and even as far away as Iowa and Alaska, for the 17th annual edition of the canine-themed festival at Libertyville’s Cook Park.
They competed in events including the Big Air Wave; the Extreme Vertical Competition, a high-jump in which dogs aim at a suspended bumper toy target; and the Speed Retrieve, in which the dogs sprint along the 40-foot pool to grab a bumper toy.
Big Air jumper Ozzy is a family dog at home, but all that is left behind when it’s time to compete, Tonkovic said.
“Once they get competitive, you don’t undo that,” he said.
DockDogs holds competitions across the country, and Ryan Gottschalk of Lindenhurst said his family participates in about six of them every year. His 8-year-old daughter, Teagan, competed Sunday with Bolt, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, who jumped more than 22 feet.
Ryan said Bolt’s competitive streak led them to take part in the events.
“We live on the water,” he said. “And when we got him, we threw a ball in the water, and he didn’t care if it was on fire. Once I saw he had no self-preservation, I said, ‘Let’s go.’ We came here three years ago and that’s when it started.”
Besides canine competition, the three-day Dog Days fest hosted several dog-related vendors, and free training and K9 demonstrations.
Mike Lynn, who coordinates the Knights of Columbus-hosted event along with John DeReu, said proceeds from Dog Days go to local charities, including an area food pantry.