Dock Dogs

New thing today, watched Dock Dogs. I had never heard of it before either. We were waiting for a show at the Rio Las Vegas (which I will blog about another day), when there was a fair going on outside the hotel. We decided to go check it out. I had seen the local news talk about the Dock Dogs competition, but I didn't realize how much fun it would be live. 

Basically the one we saw was a jumping competition. The dogs are trained to run, jump and catch a floating stick in their mouth, and then their fall is caught by a large pool of water. The location of the stick changes height and length and dogs are eliminated over time as the stick changes positions. 

It's super fun and cute to see the dogs get excited, their owners pep talk the dogs into jumping, and then the athleticism and acrobatics as the dogs go for the bone. Some dogs are itching to jump. Some miscalculate the distance of the bone. Some get super excited and then don't jump and stand on the edge. Some can't find the bone or see it. One dog missed the bone, but when he fell in the water, he kept swimming up right under the bone, trying to swim under, jump and get it. One dog missed the bone then immediately jumped back onto the ramp, and before they could reset everything, made another go for it. Anyway it's fun and cute. 

It is super cool when they do get the bone! The crowd is also highly invested, cheering along and ahhhhhs of sadness when the dog misses, or shouts of Ya and joy when the dog makes it :)

This might have been the coolest unexpected activity we stumbled upon. It was ridiculously fun and surprising how entertaining it was. Wholesome fun in the city of Sin :) I highly recommend going to something like this if you can!