Dog jumping comp marks 30 years at Maleny Show

Dog Jumping competition organiser Matthew Howard, second from left, with some of the contestants. Pic: Màrshâ Fötõgråfië

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Dog Jumping competition at the Maleny Show, and the original event organiser Matthew Howard, is using it as the opportunity to hand over the reins of the much loved attraction to its official sponsor, Rohan Williams of Total Building and Construction.

“The original idea was brought to me in 1993 by Debbie Haddock, who had a newspaper clipping from the Dalby Herald, about a dog jumping competition,” Matthew said.

“So in 1994 we started the first dog jumping competition at the Maleny Show, and it has just grown so much over the years.

“The number of entries has grown and the prize money has increased too,” said Matthew.

“Visitors to the Show absolutely love it. It has become a very popular attraction.”

All kinds of dog breeds have been represented in the competition over the years, but Matthew particularly remembers the record breaking Koolie dog from Gatton, who holds the height record to this day.

“I have never seen anything like it,” he said. “This dog basically jumped 9 feet, 11 inches (just over 3 metres), from a standing start. In fact, we had to rig up a whole new jump for the competition. I ended up stacking the dog jump onto milk crates and strapping it to the back of a truck to make the jump high enough!”

This year, Debbie Haddock will return to the Maleny Show to run the final competition with Matthew and to officially hand it over to Rohan.

“Rohan actually built a much taller jump for the dogs a few years ago and I know that it will go from strength to strength under his guidance.”