Canine Watersports Canada’s Launch into Labour Day in Cardinal This Weekend

Brockville – On the heels of their 2024 Championships this past weekend in Brockville, Canine Watersports Canada is hosting their Launch Into Labour Day this weekend in Cardinal.

The Cardinal Festival Committee is hosting the event at 105 Legion Way in Cardinal from Saturday, August 31st to Monday, September 2nd.

The event will feature dogs jumping off of a dock into a pool of water in 4 different disciplines. The four disciplines are ‘Jump’, ‘Toss’, ‘Grab’ and ‘Lure’.

Everything gets underway on Saturday at 10:00 am with a try-it/practice followed by the first competitive jump number 1 at 11:00 am.

There will be three more jumps during the day with the Toss going at 5:00 pm.

The competition will continue on Sunday with a Try-it/Practice starting at 9:00 am and the first jump at 10:00 am. It continues with jumps and a Grab and will finish up at 6:00 pm.

The final day, Labour Day Monday again begins at 10:00 am with Jump #7 followed by Lure at noon. The finals begin at 2:30 pm.

Come out and watch some dogs have fun and compete. This is a free event.

For more information please visit: https://www.caninewatersportscanada.com/ or their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/caninewatersportscanada/

Four Different Disciplines:

The first one is ‘Jump’ which is long-distance jumping and the main feature of Canine Watersports Canada events. Dogs run down our 36′ dock and jump into our 45′ pool of water chasing their toy. Scores are determined by our judges who measure the jump from the end of the dock to where the base of the dog’s tail enters the water. Each competitor gets two jumps, with the bigger of the two jumps counting as their score. The dog’s best score from the 2 jumps is placed into one of our 5 divisions according to the distance jumped. The top 5 dogs in each division will qualify to compete in the FINALS at the end of the event.

The next one is ‘Toss’ which is similar to Jump, however, the Dog must catch the object thrown by the handler. If the catch is NOT over 6′ it’s an automatic disqualification. Each competitor gets two tries which only count
if the object is caught more than 6′ out. There are 2 parts to the scoring in Toss. Part 1 – the “Catch” score, PLUS, part 2 – the “Landing” score. They will get 2 attempts, the dog must make at least one successful catch in the air, the dog must return to the surface of the water with the object thrown in the dog’s mouth, and the catch must be 6′ or over for it to count, the catch score and the landing score are then added together for a final score.

The next one is ‘Grab’, which is a combined height and distance discipline and consists of 3 divisions. This discipline is not about height!
A bumper is suspended on a rig which is always measured 2′ high from the dock, it NEVER goes higher. It starts at a minimum distance of 8’ out from the end of the dock. For every successful Grab, the rig is moved down the side of the pool, in 1′ increments. The dog must knock the bumper out of its hold in order to move to the next level. If the dog is successful the rig is moved. If the dog misses on the first try, they immediately take a second try and the dog that makes 2 unsuccessful knockoffs or Grabs at the same distance is eliminated. In the case of a tie, where 2 dogs finish at the same distance, the dog who has more successful grabs (starts sooner) wins, if a tie still persists the dog will continue until a winner is determined.

And finally, there is ‘Lure’ which is a timed swimming race that is similar to lure coursing in the water. The dog starts 5’ from the pool end of the dock and the dog’s 2 front feet must remain on the 5′ line until they jump (pulling your dog back or slingshot your dog will lead to automatic disqualification). A second handler can stand at the other end of the pool, near the finish line to encourage the dog to swim faster. A “lure” bumper can be thrown into the water in front of the dog and will be pulled to the 35’ finish line by a Canine Watersports Canada staff member or volunteer standing at the other end of the pool, the handler can throw a toy past the 35′ mark or the handler can stand at the end of the pool and LURE the dog with his favourite toy. The stopwatch is started when the dog leaves the dock and stops when the dog’s nose crosses the 35′ mark. Each dog will have 2 tries to achieve their fastest time.