Dog Daze 7, ‘pooch plunge,’ set Friday thru Sunday
Shop Farragut/Farragut Business Alliance once again is bringing Dog Daze, a prestigeous three-day national dog jumping competition, to Town Friday through Sunday, Aug. 11-13, in Village Green shopping center, 11505 Kingston Pike.
People are really talking it up and looking forward to it,” said Steve Krempasky, Shop Farragut/FBA executive director. “We’ve got a great lineup of vendors.”
As Dog Daze 7 — the seventh straight year in early August for Farragut to host this prestigeous event — “I think it’s finally caught on,” he said. “We’ve got more sponsors and local participation.”
Presented by TDS Telecom, the fun begins from 4 to 7 p.m., Friday, with “Pooch Plunge,” a fun jump opportunity for local dogs with their owners present.
“People will start arriving around 3 p.m. to get registered,” Krempasky said. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsor, The Lee Company, “It’s free to jump..’”
Saturday and Sunday are competition days, with on-sight registration beginning at 9 a.m., Saturday, for dogs whose owners paid the registration fee.
Spectators can attend free of charge.
“A lot of (registration spaces) are sold out already,” Krempasky said. “There will be 60 dogs or more in the competition. Each of the events has different size categories depending on the size of dogs.
“Any dog can compete in the events, but they do set them up in categories,” he added. “So you can have a wiener dog jump 2 1/2 feet and set a world’s record, where another dog jumps 25, 30 feet, but they’re in a different category.”
The Big Air Wave competitions start at 10 a.m., and the final event on Saturday, the Extreme Vertical, is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. However, Krempasky noted the event could go as late as 8:30 p.m. “because it’s a competition where every contestant, when they do the vertical leap, they’ll set it up at 6-foot-2, and all the dogs jump.
“If they can catch at 6-foot-2, then they’ll move it up to 6-foot-4, and all the dogs jump again,” he added. “It’s a process of elimination.”
Competitions continue Sunday with registration at 9 a.m., followed by Big Air Wave #5 at 10 a.m. and #6 at 11:30 a.m., Speed Retrieve (all-in-one finals) at 1:30 p.m. and Big Air Finals starting at 3:30 p.m. Recognition of the winners’ concludes the festivities.
Sanctioning by DockDogs International “is the central part of the reason we’re doing it,” Krempasky said. “I actually pay DockDogs International to bring the swimming pool, the dock and the equipment for the judging and everything else, and we pay a level that makes this a sanctioned, regional (competition) for their organization.”
Because it is sanctioned, “we could set world records over the weekend,” he added. “The local host is the Smoky Mountain DockDogs Club.”
As for other activities, “Cool Sports, Home of the Icearium is going to bring over a street hockey set-up for the kids,” he said. “Last year, we brought over a couple kiddie rides, and we’re expanding that a little bit so there are more rides and activities.”
For more information about the event, visit www.farragutbusiness.com/dogdaze
