FUR SET TO FLY AT COAST PET EXPO
MEET the pups about to make a big splash at the annual Pet Expo on the Gold Coast.
Owners from all over Australia will be entering their water-loving dogs into the Dock Diving competition, where dogs jump off a jetty into the water.
There are three styles for dogs to tackle – speed retrieve, extreme vertical (high jump) and big air (long jump).
And for Lower Beechmont owner Natalie Reutter and her kelpie cross rescue Lucy, there’s nothing she loves more than jumping off the dock at All Paws Paradise in Pimpama, where she trains once a week during warmer months.
“She loves it,” Ms Reutter said. “You know how dogs are supposed to walk nicely on leash, when she gets here she’s like nope, I wanna go there (to the jetty).
“Lucy used to hate water until I got her into a life jacket, then to the creeks, now she loves it.”
Ms Reutter said Lucy’s largest jump pegged at 6.5 metres.
Darcy Akehurst, 25 of Jacobs Well, said his kelpie x cattle dog Scud loved dock diving and was the current Aqua Dog – the equivalent to the Queensland champion in dock diving.
The Blackhawk Dock Diving Nationals will be held for the first time at the Pet Expo at the Convention Centre at Broadbeach on July 8 and 9.