Leaping Labrador: Huckleberry, a Lakeland retriever, is headed to world championships

One of Polk County’s most accomplished athletes jumped out of his vehicle Thursday morning and eagerly trotted toward the training venue.

Barking repeatedly, Huckleberry turned back toward his companion and trainer, Nancy Akin of South Lakeland, his posture urging her toward the pool.

“He’s like Lassie,” Akin said over Huckleberry’s energetic yawps. “He’s like, ‘Timmy fell down the well. Come on, Mom, let’s go!’”

Huckleberry, a 7-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, is always ready to go. He began competing at age 1 in events sponsored by Dock Dogs, a company that holds contests around the country at which canines leap into and swim across pools of water.

At a competition in West Palm Beach earlier this month, Huckleberry qualified for the Dock Dogs World Championships in three disciplines: Extreme Vertical, Speed Retrieve and the Iron Dog Challenge. Akin plans to take him to the prestigious gathering in Dubuque, Iowa, in October.

Dock Dogs events combine elements of a track meet and a swim meet. Human trainers stand on a 40-foot platform adjacent to a pool, deploying bumpers, or plastic floats, to direct their dogs in the Big Air contest (a long jump into the water), Extreme Vertical (a high jump) and Speed Retrieve (a swimming sprint). Combined scores from the three categories figure into the Iron Dog standings.

It will be Huckleberry’s fifth trip to the World Championships. He took third place in the master division in 2021.

Dock Dogs welcomes all breeds and mixed breeds at its competitions. Entrants are sorted into divisions based on past performance. Akin said that when she began attending events in 2007 with a previous dog named Sally, Labrador retrievers usually dominated the field. In recent years, though, whippets — sighthounds with unsurpassed acceleration — have become the alpha dogs, she said.

Late husband's pick

Akin, a retired English teacher, has raised a series of labs, initially with her late husband, Bill, when she lived in Georgia. Akin’s other dog, Peaches, a black lab, is now retired from competing at age 9 because of illnesses.

Seven years ago, and veterinarian friend told Bill that his dog was going to have puppies, and asked if he might want one. Bill said that if any puppies showed the same energy and drive that Sally possessed, he would claim it. He recognized those traits in one of the pups and adopted the boy, naming him Huckleberry.

The dog’s officially registered American Kennel Club name is Mark Twain Scoundrel, in a nod to the author who created the rascally character of Huckleberry Finn.

“And he was a scoundrel those first couple years of life,” said Akin, 71. “He was hard to train and take care of. He was full-on, no brakes. I always say, the day God gave that litter brakes, Huckleberry wasn't around that day because he missed the brakes. So ‘Huckleberry’ really fits him. It fits him perfectly. But he's a good boy now.”

When Huckleberry was 6 months old, Akin took him to the home of a friend who lived on a lake in Georgia and owned dogs that enjoyed leaping off a dock.

“And I just took Huckleberry out there, and he acted like he was having a fit,” Akin said. “And so, I threw that bumper out there and he just flew off, just like the other two, like he had been doing it — I want to say all his life, but that was only six months.”

That reflex is innate for the breed.

“You have to realize, with a Labrador retriever, they’re natural water retrievers,” Akin said. “So there's not a big deal you have to do to get him to jump into the water to get something, a toy or a ball or whatever.”

Sadly, Bill did not live to see Huckleberry compete in his first Dock Dogs event soon after his first birthday. During contests, the dog wears a tight-fitting vest emblazoned with the name “Huck” and decorated like an American flag, an outfit Akin ordered in tribute to Bill, a Vietnam War veteran and Army Ranger.

Akin, who grew up in Florida, returned to the state 3½ years ago, in part to be near her daughter and an arriving grandchild. She had learned that it is not safe for dogs to jump into Florida’s lakes, which teem with alligators, and as she searched for a house, she had specific requirements for the yard.

“One of the things I told the real estate agent I had to have was enough back yard to have a good yard, plus enough room for a pool, because they absolutely have to have a water workout,” Akin said. “So I knew I was going to have a pool before I ever bought this house, which worked out perfectly.”

Huckleberry does not really require training on mechanics of the pool events, as his instincts carry him through, but Akin seeks to keep him in peak fitness. Before Peaches’ decline, Akin strove to give the dogs three activities a day — a morning retrieving session in a field, a pool workout and later a walk, sometimes in a store that allows customers to bring dogs.

In addition to his Dock Dogs competitions, Huckleberry — at 68 pounds, an average-sized male lab — is working on his AKC titles in retrieving hunt test and coursing ability, a 100-yard sprint.

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The water, though, brings out Huckleberry’s keenest competitive drive. He is listed in the master division for Dock Dogs events, one of five based on performance at previous contests. His personal bests are 22 feet, 9 inches in Big Air (the long jump), 5 feet, 6 inches in Extreme Vertical and 6.4 seconds in Speed Retrieve.

'Get it, buddy!'

Akin demonstrated Huckleberry’s skills — and eagerness — in a session recently at JohnK9, a training facility just across the Hillsborough County line that contains a covered pool. She guided Huck onto a wooden platform, about 3 feet off the floor and covered in green turf.

Holding a rubber floater, Akin directed the dog to the back of the 40-foot platform, commanding him to sit with his front paws stretched forward. Backing toward the pool, Akin sternly intoned, “Don’t you move those back feet! No. No. No. Wait. Wait.”

Huckleberry sat motionless, his gaze fixed on Akin and the bumper, his energy barely contained. The instant Akin moved to toss the floater, Huckleberry launched into a sprint as his handler called, “Get it, buddy, get it! Catch it, buddy, catch it!”

Akin, wearing a tan visor that bore two red paw prints, tossed the bumper high above the pool, and Huckleberry vaulted out toward it. Dogs are not required to catch or even touch the bumpers, which serve only as props, like lures at a dog race. Each time, Huck landed with a ferocious splash, corralled the floater in his mouth and swam back to the ramp leading out of the pool.

At Dock Dogs competitions, both sides of the pool are lined with measuring tapes. An overhead camera allows judges to determine the spot at which a dog’s tail set, or rump, first breaks the water’s surface.

Huckleberry does best with an arcing leap, as opposed to a flat vault, Akin said. When one of her tosses went too far to the right, causing Huck to turn sideways in midair, she said the throw had probably cost him two feet of distance.

“He’s going to do his job,” she said, “but I’ve got to do mine, too.”

Akin has seen canines competing at Dock Dogs events at such advanced ages as 13 or 14. She figures that Huckleberry still has years left to remain athletic, barring an injury or illness. The energetic reformed scoundrel shows no signs of contemplating retirement.

Speaking of Labrador retrievers generally, Akin said, “They will stay in shape until they literally just wear out.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Huckleberry, a Lakeland retriever, heads to Dock Dogs national event