Happy Trails to You…Missouri, here we come!

I knew it. I knew it! When I saw the equipment case come out, I knew it was pack-up-to-go-to another-event time!

And this time, we are going to the Lincoln County Fair in Troy, Missouri. My mom said that this is an event hosted by the Gateway DockDog Club. What’s so cool about this club is that we’ve only been to events in the Southeast. But this time, we are venturing out west…crossing the Mighty Mississippi River!

Maybe she’ll stop and let me jump in the Mississippi River. Ya think so?

My dad and Spud are staying here. My dad has to save his days at work for our event next month in Milledgeville. And he doesn’t want to stay home alone, so he’s keeping Spud with him.

It didn’t take long yesterday evening for my mom to pack the car.

There’s our stuff. From L-R: rolly cart, gray travel box (and carton of water), equipment case top, equipment case bottom, EZ Up tent with chair, banners, and water sitting on top of it. Everything is sitting on our two crates.

Oops, she hasn’t packed her own bag yet. There’s no room for my mom’s clothes. That’s okay. We don’t have any clothes so why should she!

Usually, we take my dad’s truck. But since this time it’s just my mom and Hoppy and me, we are taking her SUV.

Okay. My mom said, “Come on Sally and Hoppy, Time to go.”

Of course, being the Captain of Team 3 Dawg Flite, I jumped up in the driver’s seat. Ready for take-off!

Then I had to check everything out. Make sure we were all cleared for take-off.

I told Hoppy to get in. He jumped up into his place back there by the equipment.

Then I noticed something.

Poor Spud. There he was sitting waiting for me to tell him to get in the car.

I said to him, “Spud, you went on the last dock diving trip with Dad up to Ohio. It’s our turn now. You stay here.”

But it didn’t help. He kept saying, “Hey, what about me?”

Then my mom came out and saw me in the driver’s seat!

“Sally!” “Get your little chocolate #^*% our of my seat and back there where you belong!”

You know, it’s funny. When she’s happy with me and talking all nice and sweet, I’m her “little chocolate dawg,” or I’ve got those “little chocolate paws,” or it’s “move your little chocolate bootie,” or it’s my “little chocolate nose.”

But when I’ve done something wrong…when I’m into something I shouldn’t be into…it’s always my “chocolate #^*%.” Go figure.

So it was back there with Hoppy where I am supposed to ride. Dang!

At least I can still be the navigator and supervise her as she drives.

Keep your fingers and paws crossed for me in Missouri that I jump big. I only need two more Master jumps to get my Master Title, so I could get it this weekend.

Well, we’re off. Can’t wait to see the Mississippi River. I am ready to JUMP!

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. mississippi river,travel

Here it is!!

Remember in my last post how I told you about my mom and Spud and I going down to a marina and meeting with a television reporter?

Well, the story was on the 6:00 news tonight. I thought it was really, REALLY cool! She got lots of good shots of me. Me with my bumper, me jumping, me swimming.

She got some good shots of Spud, too. I especially like the close-up shot of him wagging his tail.

Here’s the link the the video clip of the news story. Hope you enjoy it.

Local Dogs Dive Into New Sport

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And now, a personal note to my friend, Mason. Team 3 Dawg Flite is so proud of you taking to dock diving and going to your first event.

Don’t worry about not running down the dock right now. Just concentrate on jumping off the dock and getting comfortable with that.

Once you’re comfortable with just jumping off the dock, your mom can start you back a little bit…maybe 3 or 4 feet. Then a little farther and a little farther. Soon, you will be starting from the back of the dock.

Buckeye DockDogs has a lot of people who will help you and give you lots of good advice.

Jump big, Mason!!

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 dogs,dock jumping,tv news

Missouri, here we come!

Happy 4th of July, fans!

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

We’re going to another dock diving event. Well, at least some of us are. My mom is taking me and Hoppy to Troy, Missouri for the Lincoln County Fair. It’s an event hosted by the Gateway DockDogs club.

Why just Hoppy and me? Why not Spud? Unfortunately, her SUV, when loaded down and packed with all our dock diving and travel gear, can only hold two dogs. So the decision came down to which two dogs.

Of course, one of the dogs was an automatic choice: me! But should the second dog be Hoppy or Spud? My mom wanted to take Spud, especially since he’s been jumping so good lately. But my dad didn’t want her taking Spud away from him. (Personally, I think he’s a little too attached to Spud!)

See how good Spud’s been jumping. That boy is on fire!

But, back to Hoppy……he’s such a big baby and so dependent on his pack. Being here for five days without either Spud or me…….well, let’s just say by the time we got back, he would be weaving baskets in the doggie sanitarium.

Y’all want to see something cool? Here is the logo for our big dock diving event we are having down in Milledgeville.

We are soooooooo excited about this event. Registration is going very well so far. My mom has been doing all the publicity for this event. Boy, has she been busy sending out press releases, contacting magazines and radio stations and emails.

And guess what we did a couple of days ago. My mom and Spud and I went down to a marina in Milledgeville (on Lake Sinclair) where there are plenty of docks. And, of course, we got to dock dive. But there was something very different about it this time.

There was a lady with a video camera (a professional one like my mom uses), and she was shooting footage of Spud and me. She shot all of our jumps. Plus, she got some real close-up shots of us….right in our faces and close-ups of our paws and tails wagging.

I was thinking, “Who IS this person?” Then, after Spud and I did several jumps with this Steven Spielberg wannabe filming our every move, she took my mom over on another dock and started talking to her and filming her talking.

What in the world is so film-worthy about my mom talking? She does it ALL THE TIME. Trust me, it’s no big thing.

When we got home, I heard my mom talking to my dad about a TV news story. Then, it all made sense. That lady was a TV news reporter.

We are going to be on the news! I’m sure it was part of the publicity work my mom has been doing for our event.

Here is the link to our official information page about our event:

The Fishing Creek Outfitters Throwdown

And here’s the link to register if you want to come jump with us. It would be so cool if some of y’all could come down to our event!

Throwdown registration

Oh yeah, one more thing. Remember in my last post, I said we were going to our Fun Jump? And they were going to crown a Mr. and Ms. Dixie Dock Dog and I hoped I would get Ms. Dixie Dock Dog. Well, I didn’t win. I think I came in second. (Personally, I think someone stuffed the ballot box!)

Here are the winners. Congratulations to Ruby and Wedge!

Well, I’ve got to run now. We are going out on our boat today. That’s always fun….lots of swimming and water retrieving. And I love riding on the boat. I’ll try to get my mom or dad to take some photos.

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,news,news story,tv reporter

Oh my! So much has happened.

Where do I begin? I feel like I’ve lost touch with all my fans and let y’all down. I haven’t made a blog post in so long. Spud made one for me. (Wasn’t that post cute!)

My mom has really been busy. Busy with her job which has had her monopolizing the computer. I asked my dad if I could use his computer. But nooooooo. I couldn’t use his.

Well, as luck would have it (bad luck for my mom), the computer has become available due to my mom’s accident.

Don’t worry. She’s okay. We were at the marina, and she tripped over….guess who! Yep, Hoppy! She tumbled down on the asphalt drive and skidded down the hill.

OUCH!!

She’s pretty skinned up and bruised. And Hoppy? He never knew anything happened.

Anyway, her injury has given me time to crank out another post to catch y’all up.

Hmmmm…..let’s see. The biggest news:

Our dock diving club has signed a contract to host a dock diving event here in Georgia! The humans in the club have been working on this for so long. Finally, I get to invite all my dog friends from all over to come down here to Georgia for an event.

Details? Glad you asked.

Name of Event: The Fishing Creek Outfitters Throwdown

Place: Milledgeville, Georgia

Dates: August 28-30, 2009

I want to say right now…..all of my dog friends, all of my fans, anyone reading this….you are all invited to The Fishing Creek Outfitters Throwdown.

“Catch up” item #2: We got an award….a Gold Hydrant Award….from our blog friends at “Life with Dogs.”

I’m trying to get Sola, one of those dogs, to do some dock diving. She would be really good at it. You fans who read their blog, help me encourage Sola to try dock diving.

And THANK YOU to all the dogs over at Life with Dogs for the award. We are honored!!

“Catch up item #3”: We have a new club website. Okay, this is not so exciting to y’all, but it really means a lot to us Dixie Dock Doggers. My mom did the website. She loves that kind of stuff. (Personally, I think jumping off a dock is a lot more fun than computer stuff.)

“Catch up” item #4: We have two new practice docks and have had a practice at each of them. Wanna see some pics?

Me trying out our new portableExtreme Vertical rig. Cool! I love it!

Spud wanted to try the EV rig. He didn’t quite get it. But he tried!

But again, it was Hoppy who took the prize for the goofiest. Look at this goober. Since it’s warm weather now, my mom got into the water thinking he would jump to her.

Nope.

She got his favorite toy and shook it in front of his face, honestly believing he would jump to her.

Nope.

It was just tooooooooo far down there for Hoppy.

So my mom brought out her big gun: PEANUT BUTTER!

Peanut butter is Hoppy’s most absolutelyest favorite thing in the entire world. He’s obsessed with peanut butter.

Yep, my mom’s no dummy. She knew what would get that boy off the dock.

He looked at it. He sniffed it.

Did he jump for it?

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Heck no!

But I can honestly say I’ve never seen him stick his tongue out so far. He must have pulled out the reserve tongue trying to reach that peanut butter.

Ya know….he’s just too cute not to love. What a goofball.

My mom says she’s going to keep trying. He honestly acts like he wants to jump like Spud and me. One day he will, but until that day, we’re just going to keep laughing at him and his craziness.

That’s all I’ll catch you up on today. Our club is having a Fun Jump this Sunday. They have games and competitions and all kinds of fun things planned.

And guess what? They are going to vote on a Mr. and Ms. Dixie Dock Dog. Keep you fingers crossed that I win the Ms. Dixie Dock Dog. Now, how cool would that be!

Thanks again to all the dogs at Life with Dogs for the award. Y’all are the best. And, Sola, get up there on that dock at the New Hampshire event. Give it a shot. Pretty soon, you’ll be dragging your humans all over the country like we do.

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 dogs,dock jumping,awards

hey it’s me, Spud

My sister Sally let me writ this intry in her blog. She loves her litl bruther.

Last weekend my dad took me, just me, to a dok diving place up in sumwere he called ohio. We did a lot of dok diving. I got reel tired but I had very much fun.

it seemed strage to not have sally and hoppy there but speshally sally. i missed her becaus she is our pack leeder. Evry time we got back to our tent, it kep looking for her crate but there wuz no sally anywhur.

but i still had a very good time with my dad. And I jumped real good. I even urned my “National Master Title.” Now I am a big jumper!

Here are sum pichurs of me jumping.

See how gud i did. I love dok diving very much!

Thank you sally for letting me rite in your blog. and i’m sorry you did not git to go up to ohio with me and dad. i missed you sally.

Spud, the Co-Pilot of Team 3 Dawg Flite

Proud member of Dixie Dock Dogs

Technorati Tags: dogs,labrador retriever,dock diving,dock jumping,dock dogs

I’m on strike

You will never….in a million years….believe what my dad has done to me. No, really. Try and guess.

Let Hoppy eat out of my bowl? Nope.

Bring a cat home? Nope.

Give treats to Spud and Hoppy, but not me? Nope.

Forget my birthday? Nope.

Give up?

He went on a trip to a dock diving event up in Ohio this weekend and took only Spud. Not me. Not my mom. Not Hoppy. Not ME. But just Spud. I heard them talking about this earlier, but I never figured he go and do something like this.

I can hear all you 3 Dawg Flite fans out there asking, “WHY?”

Well, as you know, my mom is a wedding and event videographer, and she had two weddings this weekend. So she couldn’t go. As a matter of fact, that’s why I haven’t posted very much this past week. My mom has been busy, busy, busy which means she hogs the computer.

And I’m…well, how shall I put this? Let’s just say that I’m “spirited” and my dad sometimes has a hard time handling me. He does okay with one dog, but trying to handle more than one…especially if one is me…is a little tough for him.

So, what did we do? Well, this was my mom’s schedule this weekend:

Friday: Leave for wedding at 11:00. Get back home at midnight.

Saturday: Leave for wedding at 1:00. Get back home at 1:30 a.m.

As you can see, there was just no time for Hoppy and me. So we went to Pawtropolis, our doggie daycare, all weekend. Yep, we had one big spend-the-night party over there.

It was a blast!!! We went rollerblading. Okay, we didn’t actually rollerblade ourselves. The staff member rollerbladed, and we ran along with them.

Hoppy went for a hike. I retrieved outside in their dog park.

We got Frosty Paws for a bedtime snack.

But the best part? They had the pool open all weekend. I stayed in that water until they thought I was going to shrivel up. It’s not a big adult-size pool, but a small in-ground doggie-size pool. Here are some pics of me and my friends having fun in the Pawtropolis pool.

So, all is well. I had a blast, and so did Hoppy. Okay, okay…not as much fun as dock diving, but darn close.

I am, however, still really, really, REALLY mad because my dad went off without me. So I am definitely going on strike. Just exactly what I’m striking, I have no idea. But I’ll think of something.

And my dad and Spud? They should be home tomorrow, and I’ll post about how Spud did. (If I can get my mom off the computer long enough!)

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,doggy day care,pools,swimming

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