Photo: Facebook / Joey Burns
A police dog from Hibbing, Minnesota, is one of 16 K9's to compete in the upcoming season of A&E's America's Top Dog competition show.
Chase, the Minnesota police K9, was selected after his handler, Hibbing Police Officer Joey Burns, applied after watching one episode of the show, FOX 9 reported.
"I was sitting there watching, I was thinking how cool it would be to get the opportunity to do something like that," Burns said.
Burns said they only had a few weeks to prepare after finding out he had been selected. He added that he had to teach Chase a few new skills like pressing a button and jumping off a dock into the water.
During the show, dogs are tasked with going through intense obstacle courses. So, Burns and Chase practiced as much as they could before filming began.
Burns told FOX 9 that the obstacles "were nothing that we could really build or replicate," so he would take Chase to the park and have him run around on the playground equipment.
Burns hopes to represent Minnesota well. "My biggest hope is that I can not only make the Iron Range and the community of Hibbing where I'm from in Grand Rapids and the Iron Range proud, but I can make all of Minnesota proud," Burns noted.
Chase and Burns will be on America's Top Dog on Tuesday, July 13, on A&E and 7 p.m.