AKC Diving Dogs 2026 Results, Winner and Highlights from Team Event

Hometown team Philadelphia defeated Dallas to win the 2026 American Kennel Club Diving Dogs Team Challenge event Saturday in Philly.

On the final dive of the day, a labrador retriever named Vern leapt 19 feet into a pool to secure the victory for Philadelphia, giving it an aggregate diving distance of 88 feet and nine inches in the finals, which was four inches better than Dallas.

The July 4 event was an eight-team tournament with each team being comprised of six dogs with varying breeds and ages.

Every matchup saw all six dogs on each team compete by jumping as far as they could into a pool while attempting to grab a toy out of the air.

Each dog's best jump counted toward the total score, and the team with the best overall score in each matchup advanced to the next round.

Philadelphia's winning group was made up of Vern the lab, Rider the golden retriever, Pico the border collie, Anise the Belgian Malinois and two All-American dogs named Cannonball and Logan.

As the No. 6 seed out of eight teams, Philadelphia had to upset third-seeded Washington D.C. in the first round before beating No. 7 Nashville in the semis and No. 4 Dallas in the finals.

It was a day of upsets in the City of Brotherly Love, as in addition to Philadelphia's first-round win, No. 8 Boston knocked off No. 1 Los Angeles and No. 7 Nashville took down No. 2 Chicago.

Dallas was the only favorite to win in the first round, beating No. 5 New York. While Dallas was also the better seed in the semifinals and finals, Philadelphia would not be denied on its home turf.