(August 11th, 2007) Stoney Creek (Splash Dogs)

Rocky competed in his first ever dock jumping competition. Not only did that goofy dog like it, he is pretty good at it too. We practiced him a few times and entered him the second 'Splash' of the day just for fun. His first jump was 13'6" and his second jump was 13'8". He finished 3rd in the junior division in that splash and they told us as of then he was in the bubble of top 24 competitors to jump in the semi-finals on Sunday. So, we head back on Sunday not really expecting much only to find that after the 3rd splash and everyone is is tallied up, he is 14th overall. Due to other dogs not showing, we get bumped up to 12th and competed in the Pro class. With his best recorded jump of 13'10" in the semi-finals, he placed 10th. So now, we must find a place to practice to train this jumping fool!

Jump 1 on Saturday

Video of Jump 2 on Saturday

(August 26th, 2007) Practice with DD

We found a regulation length dock and pool open at Ferndale by Dock Dogs, so away we went to try out some new training we had been doing. First, we had switched out a regular old tennis ball for a Wubba. Second we had practiced him sitting and staying at the end and running towards me for the release. So, after all this time at home in the yard, we were ready to put to use. And found . . . that he jumps further if I throw the toy first  and resest him at the end - like I had been. The Wubba was an 'improvement' that we will keep, so not all the training and changes were a loss.

Here is some video of our tries that day -

What can I say? My boy likes to splash!

(September 1st, 2007) Cabela's (DD)

Off to Cabela's to compete in 2 waves to try to qualify for the finals on Monday. At this event, we found he would stay put at the end of the dock and wait for the throw. We mostly figured this out because if I threw the toy first, I couldn't get the goof ball to take his eyes off it long enough to walk to the back of the dock. His best jump was his 2nd jump in the 2nd wave (last one), so we registered him for one more wave. His jumps weren't as good as that one, but he broke the 14' mark and stayed there.

Here are his official jumps:

Here is his best jump of the day and a new personal best jump of 14'11".

(September 3rd, 2007) Back to Cabela's to compete in the final wave on Monday and see where we are placed. When we left on Saturday, Rocky was 12th out of 22 dogs. And at least 6 of those were jumping over 20'. When we got there on Monday, he was about 35th. In order to be in the top 24, he needed to jump 16'5" or better. Now I have great dreams for my dog, but adding almost 2 feet is a bit lofty. But you know Rocky, he gives it his all. His first competition jump was 14'1". Not a new personal best, but he was still jumping in the 14' range. So, whatever he did on Saturday was still there. And then came our second jump. All I can say is what I told Jason, I knew the instant I threw the toy and he jumped that it was a good one. I just knew it (which from my perspective on the dock  is saying a lot)! And . . . Rocky came out with a new personal best of . . . are you ready? . . . 15'7"!!! We were thrilled, even after we realized that moved him into the Senior class and he wouldn't place. Here is his new personal best -

Now we didn't qualify for finals, but when you consider that the top 12 of 24 dogs were all jumping over 20'. We were happy to finish as high as we did. An most importantly Rocky (and Jason and I) had fun!

Now for a bit of dry land training for a few days before we compete in the Ultimate Air Games in Imlay City. We are trying out a new toy and a new set up. We will see how it all translates to the dock and water.

(September 7th - 9th, 2007) Ultimate Air Games (UAD)

We headed off the to Ultimate Air Games (UAG) in Imlay City on Friday to qualify for the semi-finals on Saturday. All your dog had to do was jump Friday to secure a spot for Saturday. We put Rocky in two 'splashes' just for the practice. There were tons of dogs and people. It was easily the biggest and loudest event we had done. There were so many dogs in the 6:00 jump that it ended after the 8:00 jump should have started. So, they delayed the start of the 8:00 jump to round up more lights because it was getting dark. So, Rocky's last two jumps were in the dark with a lit dock. He did well and proved not only consistent, but that the improvements he made the weekend before weren't just a fluke. He succeeded in jumping himself right out of the Junior division (jumps 10' - 14'11"). But at least he stayed in the Senior division (15' - 19'11") with his jumps on Saturday and Sunday. 

So, his jumps Friday qualified him for the Senior division semi-finals on Saturday. The top 8 semi-final dogs come back Sunday for the finals. Since the Senior division was the largest group, they decided to do the top 16 dogs. And our boy Rocky was 16th. That is how we ended up there on Sunday too. I was just happy that he was 16th out of 29 dogs on Saturday. He jumped well, improved his distance and proved that he deserved to be there. We never dreamed he would compete in the finals.

On Sunday, I just wanted him to jump well and show that we deserved to be there. We were the only team to jump less than 18' in the semi-finals (not that anyone else noticed but us). But Rocky didn't disappoint and jumped a solid 18' on his first jump. On his second jump, the toy hit my leg when I threw it, so it went a bit short and Rocky still pulled out 17'3". He certainly wasn't the best in his division, but he wasn't the worst.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Rocky set and re-set his personal best jump 5 times! 

We even took Newman with us on Saturday and Sunday. He enjoyed Saturday, but by Sunday he was a bit annoyed by all the attention (that he got). We couldn't take him anywhere in the show without people stopping to pet him and want to know what kind of dog he was and where we got him. All this for a dog no one wanted 4 years ago!

Here are Rocky's jumps for the Ultimate Air Games -

Here is video of Rocky's best jump of the weekend - his 18 footer. As you can see, it was a bit loud and communication was tough. Hence the vaudeville-like sit and stay routine!

Not sure what is coming up next - other than serious work on his ability to sit and stay for me!

(end of September 2007) Practice at Scott's

We did find a dock to do a bit of practice on. Jason build a hurdle for the end to try to teach Rocky to jump UP and out, instead of shooting off the end of the dock at full speed. By the end of the weekend, Rocky had it down! The hurdle really seemed to help him to jump UP and out, instead of flat out. It was actually a good set-up. The dock was shorter, narrower and slipperier than what Rocky is used to so he was forced to slow down and pay attention to what we wanted. That and we jumped him until he was exhausted both days. We are hoping we can use this place to practice again in the spring - I am sure we will all need it! Plus the people on the lake found him very entertaining!

(October 6th - 7th, 2007) Pine River Pond (UAD)

Time to see if all the practice paid off. The weekend came with very mixed results. To start off, Rocky and I headed off to the event on Saturday by ourselves. Jason was flying home from a 1-week business trip in Germany, so Rocky and I were on our own. I had debated about even registering for this event because it was the beginning of October and I worried that we would be cold and wet and miserable (ok, just me, not Rocky). Well, just to make sure that wasn't an issue Mother Nature took care of the weather and it was near 90° both days. Hot was an understatement! It was probably the hottest event we had competed in - and did I mention it was October!! So, Rocky and I (ok, really just me) drag all our stuff and set-up. Now, I know why we bring Jason!

The day has great potential. It was a small group raising money for various animal rescues. And we had been practicing, however, it was not our best showing. I think Jason being gone for the week before and the set-up were not in Rocky's favor. Since he has to sleep lightly at night to protect me from the boogie-man while Jason was gone, he was a little tired. Oh and it was hot, too (did I mention that?). I also think the fact that Rocky was jumping into a pond made him less competitive. He thought we were just playing in the water. He started off well, but it went downhill from there. Which is unusual because he is had been really consistent. I had hopes that when Jason came on Sunday we would see improvement. It wasn't meant to be, but we had fun. (I personally think Rocky was extra tired because we had to pick Jason up at the airport after a full day of jumping Saturday).

Here are his results -

(December 14th - 16th, 2007) Home for the Holidays (UAD)

Yay! One last jump for 2007 for charity. We were getting stir-crazy already and we were all wondering how we were going to wait for spring. The only down-side for Rocky was because the dock was set up inside, they used a short dock and a short pool. For my fast-running dog, this presented a challenge. He couldn't get his steps right to take off at the end. He tried to fix it, I tried to fix it. The fact was that he likes 40 feet to get up to full speed and less than that is tough for him. But he got to jump in December, which was  unexpected and we had fun. We also got to see Courtney and Gauge set s new short pool record - Great job guys!

We certainly didn't set any records, but at least his consistency was back. And because the pool was shorter, it is pretty common for the dogs to jump shorter. 

I'll have to talk to my videographer/picture-taker/ dog-stuff hauler (Jason - are you paying attention) to find some video!

Rocky finished out 2007 with a Junior I (by my calculations) and an official Senior I title from Ultimate Air Dogs.

We can't for our next event in 2008! And for the weather to get warmer and the ice to melt so we can practice!