Home from Missouri and loaded with loot!

Well, not exactly loot, but I did get several ribbons. Here’s how I did:

Big Air: 2nd in Senior Division

Extreme Vertical: Just a participant ribbon. I suck at EV.

Speed Retrieve: 6th place

Iron Dog: 4th place. This is something I’ve never entered before. It’s only for dogs who do all three disciplines (Big Air, EV, Speed Retrieve). There’s a formula for how many points you get for your place in each event. Then they add everything all up, and that’s your Iron Dog score. I think I’d kind of cool!

But guess who else got a ribbon. HOPPY!!

No, he didn’t jump. He was his usual dock-sniffing, mama-kissing, crowd-pleasing self. He had everyone totally entertained. Even the announcer was laughing at him, and the judges were complete cracked up.

So, what did he get his ribbon for? The host club for this event (Gateway DockDogs) gave participation ribbons to the dogs who never went off the dock.

Here’s a photo of us up on the dock…me with my three ribbons, and Hoppy with his one little ribbon. We were so proud of him!

I do think, however, that he was a little jealous of me and my ribbons. Look at him giving my ribbons the once over. I’m sure he was thinking, “How does she do that!”

Well, brother, first you have to start jumping!

As it turned out, he was such a hit with the crowd, this kid came over to our tent and wanted to play with him. So my mom let the kid take Hoppy out and they played for a while.

Then, the kid brought over the Chase vest and asked if he could take Hoppy through the crowd collecting for the charity “Chase Away Canine Cancer.”

Look at the great Chase dog!

That’s Hoppy with the kid who adopted him for the day.

The good news is that he had been such a hit up on the dock, everyone willingly donated to the cause and put money in the vest pockets. The kid said that everyone who donated received a kiss from Hoppy!

What a HAM!

But he did collect quite a bit of money, which is a good thing. Chase Away Canine Cancer is such a worthy cause.

We don’t have any photos of me dock diving. My dad, the photographer, didn’t go with us this time. I will get some from other people in a while. If they are any good, I’ll post them later.

But for now, I’ve got to get to bed and get my rest. Guess what Spud and I are doing tomorrow. Going for another dock diving TV news story!!

Can’t wait. I’m beginning to like this celebrity thing.

See you on the dock,

Sally, the Captain of Team 3 Dawg Flite

Proud member of Dixie Dock Dogs

Technorati Tags: dogs,dock diving,dock jumping,dock dogs,dog cancer,cancer,speed retrieve,extreme vertical,iron dog

B-I-G weekend dock diving. Lookie here!

Where do I start? We went to Sanford, N.C., for a dock diving event with Carolina DockDogs. It was a fantastic weekend for Team 3 Dawg Flite!

Here’s the run down of what all we accomplished:

Sally (Captain goes first)

• 2nd place in Extreme Vertical Cadet Division
• 2nd place in Speed Retrieve
• 4th place in Big Air Masters Finals
• 2 2nd places in Big Air Waves
• Set a new Personal Best jump of 21 feet

Spud

• 2 2nd places and 1 3rd place in Big Air Waves
• 2nd place in Masters Big Air Finals
  
• Earned Regional Masters Title

Hoppy

• Well, let’s just say…he was Hoppy.

Whew! We are still recuperating from all that dock diving. But what fun we all had…both Spud and me and my mom and dad.

And my dad got a ton of great photos. So get ready to see some awesome dock diving pics.

First, here’s a series of one of my Extreme Vertical runs. Notice the last one how my mom celebrates the fact that I snagged the bumper.

Now, let’s see. How about a Speed Retrieve run. I love Speed Retrieve. It’s my favorite!

I like that last one showing my tail swirling the water. Cool, huh?

Who do you want to see next? How about Spud. He really did a terrific job.

Okay, time for some more pics of me. (Do y’all think I’m a little ego-centric?)

Here is the Big Air jump where I set my new personal best of 21 feet.

And then, of course, here’s my mom. Instead of just celebrating, she actually did some funky kind of celebration dance up there on the dock. Sometimes she sooooooo embarrasses me!

Here’s another one of my Big Air jumps. I like it when I catch the throw object.

And then, fans, here’s what you’ve been waiting for…Hoppy! He still didn’t jump, but my mom took him around to the other side of the pond and he did retrieve from the shore. And he honestly looked like he was a little interested in the wubba down there in the water. But still no jump. Just a lot of kisses and goofiness.

Well, that about closes out the report of our most recent event. It was really fun. When I finally recover, I’ll find something else to post about.

I hope I haven’t posted too many photos and bored you. Here are a couple of extra pics you might enjoy.

Good shot of Spud. He’s such a good boy!

And here I am telling my dad what I think of him sticking that camera up in my face!

See you on the dock,

Sally, the Captain of Team 3 Dawg Flite

Proud member of Dixie Dock Dogs

Technorati Tags: dogs,labrador retriever,dock diving,dock jumping,dock dogs,speed retrieve,extreme vertical,big air

Beep, beep, beep, beep. Hot off the press from Charleston.

The DockDogs event in Charleston is over, and Team 3 Dawg Flite is finally home. Tired and worn out, but very happy! I've got a few various things on my little dog mind I want to share, things that came to me while in Charleston, but I'll save those for later posts. I'll make this post about our performance.

Fortunately, our dad is a professional sports photographer, so we have great photos to share with everyone. Unfortunately, he is also Spud's handler, so we have no photos of poor Spud. A friend took some shots of Spud, however, and she is going to share them with us....we hope.

Now, for the results:

Me (Sally):
1st place in Senior Division in Big Air wave
1st place in Speed Retrieve wave
Set personal best Speed Retrieve time of 6.91 seconds!
4th place in Speed Retrieve finals
Earned Speed Retrieve Turbo Title
Earned one leg towards Extreme Vertical Cadet Title

Spud:
3rd place in Master Division in Big Air wave
Earned 3 more legs toward Big Air Master Title
8th place in Big Air Semi-Pro Finals

Hoppy:
You wouldn't believe it. What a clown!

Now for the photos. These first ones are one of my Big Air waves. It is the wave where I jumped 19'8" and got 1st place in the Senior Division.

I really, really love going off that dock!

These next photos are from one of my Speed Retrieve runs. This is the one where I did a 6.91 run, which was a personal best for me. When I heard the announcer say "And Sally's time is 6 point," immediately, I knew I had set a new personal best. You see, I've tried and tried, but I've never been able to break 7 seconds. So when he started off saying "6 point, " I almost swallowed that duck! 6.91 seconds! YES!

My mom was so happy. She hugged and hugged me. She got all wet, but she still hugged me! I felt very proud. Here are the photos from that heat.

TA-DA!

The only thing left is Extreme Vertical. I don't usually do EV. Why not? Wellllllll....I'm just not very good at it. The lowest height has always been 5' which....believe it or not....I've never been able to reach! (How pathetic!) But this year, they changed the rules to lower the starting height to 4'6" for little dogs and crappy-jumping big dogs like me. So, I asked my mom, "Please, please, please let me try EV just once more." She did, and I hit the 4'6" and then I hit the 4'8". Now, how 'bout that! The 4'8" jump was my best, however. I went out on 4'10".

And now....drum roll, please....the EV photos!


So, that's it, folks. My weekend at the SEWE in Charleston. I'll make separate posts for Spud's jumps and Hoppy's....uh, well.....um....shall we say....appearance. (What a goofball!) So check back later.

See you on the dock,
Sally, the Captain of Team 3 Dawg Flite
Proud member of Dixie Dock Dogs
Dixie Dock Dogs video