Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge airing this memorial weekend on CW San Diego and NBC! 

If you’ve ever surfed the channels on a Saturday morning and happen to pause to the amusement of what appeared to look like the “olympics for dogs” on your tv, chances are you got sucked into the fun that is the Incredible Dog Challenge. And rightfully so! Adorable dogs showing off their true potential as animals in a competition featuring the nations greatest canine athletes! What’s not to love!? Throw some Orville Redenbacker on the stove this show is pure entertainment!

Currently airing on NBC and in syndication with other networks, this event just may be the greatest thing to happen to television. The Incredible Dog Challenge event kicks off with the regional qualifiers in Huntington Beach and Boston, followed by the finals that take place in Gray Summit Missouri on a property estate famously known as Purina Farms. Located 40 minutes out of St. Louis, Purina Farms once a year becomes the mecca where top canine athletes of different breeds from across the country battle it out in a series of competitions showcasing the athletisicm dogs truly posses. From course and agility, to dock diving and surfing, these canines referred to as “athletes”, are judged based on an array of factors including velocity, and trajecory, to endurance and execution. Competing canines have been known to train throughout the year with the support of their owners/handlers leading up to the event. Some canines who are returning veterans looking to defend their titles. With the discipline and training that goes into preparing for the Incredible Dog Challenge (both for canine and handler), I’m certain also comes a rewarding feeling of knowing you’ve made the effort to enrich the quality of the relationship with your dog to one of the highest forms communication and understand. While the main goal for the canines is that they have fun, it take serious discipline and focus from the dog in order for them to be successful in achieving the competition objectives. Participants should be proud of themselves knowing the differnece they’re making in the pet lifestyle community, along with how happy they have made their dogs for enrolling them in such a special opportunity.

And just like any sporting event, beyond the training and talent that goes into making a spectacular event, support from the crowds is just as important. Thousands of fans from around the country show up to both the preliminary and final competitions filling out the bleachers to catch these amazingly talented canines in action. The energy is infectious and it seems the athletes really appreciate the spectatorship.

What is also very unique about the Incredible Dog Challenge is that the majority of the canine competitors are rescue dogs! Beyond Purina Pro Plans outstanding efforts in promoting pet friendly health and wellness, they ate also commited to helping benefit local animal welfare through their Rally to Rescue Program. Now in its 11th year, Rally to Rescue has provided over 500 animal advocate groups nationwide, the materials to help find homes for rescue dogs.

Recently, I got a chance to speak with Purina Pro Plan’s brand manager Jim Allen. When asked what the Purina Pro Plan brand prides themselves in most when it comes to the Incredible Dog Challenge, Allen shared it being the importance of “guiding people to realize dogs are more than just pets in our backyards”.  Allen, we couldn’t agree with you more!  He went onto say that with a balanced diet under the Purina Pro Plan combined with regular activity, dogs are capable of capturing the real essence of the athlete in them while also reversing potential preexisting health conditions and living a longer life! The brand has specialized in the science of a healthy diet and since their start in 1998 when at the time they were called the famously known Dog Chow and Puppy Chow. With everything Purina Pro Plan does in the pet lifestyle community, it’s no wonder many across the nation think of the brand as more than just dog food, but a lifestyle to definitely fetch. With each event, commercial, or marketing venture Purina Pro Plan purses, they always make it a goal to encourage dog owners to cohesively live an active life with their dogs- this is definitely a philosophy I am grateful Purina Pro Plans cares strongly about.

Purina Pro Plan’s efforts in bringing animal lovers together on the level they have, with the success of the Incredible Dog Challenge, has been unparalleled to that of any other dog food brand. While there is no monetary prize for winning a competition, despite its syndication on NBC, I can imagine there certainly are other elements that make being an participant of the event rewarding for everyone involved.

I want to take this time to deeply thank Jim Allen and Purina Pro Plan for everything they do for dogs and giving them the platform they deserve to showcase their true potential. The Incredible Dog Challenge National finals will air on Super Bowl Sunday on NBC! Stay tuned as I will be sure to share more details about the broadcast and the canine stars expected to compete as soon as the details become available!

To learn more about the Incredible Dog Challenge visit Purina Pro Plan’s Incredible Dog Challenge website, also, check out these other awesome articles on the event, Purina Pro Plan Partners with Olympian, Scenes from the Incredible Dog Challenge the friendliest goofiest competition on earth, and be sure to follow Purina Pro Plan on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

At Barking Beast we strongly believe in Purina Pro Plans message to embrace and healthy and active style for Fido. And in San Diego we sure have the advantage of amazing amenities so you can do so, especially at the dog beaches! But, with fall in effect, thunderstorms are making for some strong high tides and rouge current which can be very dangerous to dogs.  Although it may not appear so while your dog is jumping into the waves fetching balls at whatever distance they land, strong tides can be very tough on a dogs muscles, joints and hamstrings. They can also put the dog in a situation venerable to being sucked out by the tide. One huge tip of advice for dog owners who play fetch with their dogs we hope you will keep in consideration: To avoid the tearing of hamstrings, joints and preventing injuries to your dog, please please please do not throw your dog a ball into terrain that could harm their legs, knees and paws. Think about the terrain and if it’s not an environment you could run into barefoot, or be able to withstand, it’s probably not the safest on them either. A dogs paws and bone structure can be very delicate and vulnerable at times so please practice caution and consideration when playing fetch!  Have fun with it, but be sure to practice safety ad have lots of water available for our canine athletes.