Man’s Best Friend Oscar Trains for Dock Dog Events

 

Jonesboro man prepares Oscar for area dock dog events, seeks advice

Since our first week in the business of reporting on the sporting life of Arkansans, we have been following the exploits of Oscar, a half Chesapeake Bay retriever and half chocolate lab, pooch.

Oscar is Kevin Hamilton’s best friend, and if you don’t believe it, just ask either one.

Oscar is 2 1/2 years old his mom is a Chesapeake Bay retriever his dad is a chocolate lab, Hamilton says.

“I got Oscar when he was eight weeks old,” he said. “I trained him myself. He is the first dog that I have trained for this type of activity.”

The activity? Dock dog competitions. While Oscar hasn’t competed yet, the plan is start him this summer. Hamilton says he hopes to have Oscar ready to compete in a dock dog competition at the Arkansas Outdoors Expo in Conway, Ark., in August.

“There are just not a lot of jumping competitions around Arkansas, which I find to be weird because of all the duck dogs that we have,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton and Oscar don’t duck hunt but the two do a lot of fishing together.

Oscar knows about ten tricks including sit, stay, shake, speak, whisper (which is a soft bark) and sad (which is a moan) just to name a few, Hamilton said.

“I have always been a fan of labs and said I would never get another mix breed,” he said. “But with these two breeds I thought maybe this could be a very smart dog. He has turned out to very intelligent. The smartest dog I have ever owned.”

In addition to the Arkansas Outdoors Expo, Hamilton has his eye on a couple of dock dog competitions in Columbia, Mo.

“I am no expert in these competitive events but I think there are three key events,” he said. “One is the distance jump; one is speed retrieve; and the other one is a height jump. I am just now getting into it.”

Hamilton asks that if anyone knows more about these competitions to let him know. He’s eager to see how his best friend Oscar stacks up. “We would appreciate all the help we can get.”

If you have any suggestions for Hamilton and Oscar, please feel free to leave comments below or contact him via Twitter @bigk5570.

Below are a couple of short videos of Oscar in action.

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