‘Una’ proves to be numero uno in first Top Dog Competition

Finally, after all of the walking, climbing, sniffing and searching, Una could take a rest.

The 8-year-old black Labrador Retriever had certainly gotten her steps in on Friday, Sept. 25, at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum while pacing through rows of stadium seats, arena corridors, a darkened room, a maze of luggage, and a storage room where shell casings and mock explosive devices were hidden. Like the rest of the canines competing in the first Top Dog Competition hosted by Auburn University Canine Performance Sciences (CPS), Una possesses the keen nose and unwavering focus needed to detect a variety of safety threats.

Even so, her handler, Global K9 Protection Group trainer and instructor Sage Newton, was surprised to learn their tandem had earned the inaugural Dog Bowl Trophy as the first place finisher.

“It’s awesome, I definitely wasn’t expecting it,” Newton said. “She’s a little bit older than most of the other dogs, and I was expecting her to be a lot slower, but I guess she crushed it. She’s a pretty detailed searcher, so going into the rooms I felt really confident that she was going to find source.”

When it was over, Una was ready to find a reward. Appropriately, when presented with the Dog Bowl Trophy, she investigated it as if she expected to find a food prize inside. In all, 10 certified canine detection teams participated in the competition. Opelika’s Global K9 Protection Services also took second place with Auburn Police Department School Resource Officer Michael Veasey and Jet finishing third.

Other teams included Cobb County (Ga.) School District Police, the Monroe County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville State University Police Department. The competition exclusively featured Auburn University Dogs™ — canines bred and developed by CPS. Beyond the threat detection component, teams engaged in physical and cognitive testing, including stairwell sprints and tests for grip strength, reaction time and resistance to cognitive interference.

The event, held with the support of the Back the Blue Foundation, marked one of multiple highlights for Canine Performance Sciences, a unit within Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine. On that same evening, retired Auburn University Dog SisterSally5 served as grand marshal for the 2026 homecoming parade and hobnobbed with Auburn University President Chris Roberts and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on the field at Saturday’s home football game.

“It’s all been anchored by the fact that the Alumni Association selected us to serve as grand marshal of the parade,” said CPS Director Dr. Paul Waggoner.

While the dogs bred and developed by CPS have distinguished themselves in a variety of public safety and homeland security settings through their keen olfactory capabilities, behavior, genetics and physical performance, their power extends far beyond their nose. For the school resource officers competing in the Top Dog Competition, Auburn University Dogs offer more than threat detection.

“Their dogs are there to detect and protect others, but anecdotally people say that the dogs being present does a couple of things,” Waggoner said. “They make everybody feel safe, the deterrence effect. The other big piece is the social piece. That officer now has a sort of mascot for the school that provides a conduit for students to more readily talk to them.”

Canine Performance Sciences