Team Rocketdog

2007 Season Archives

(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 Sunday.

(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 -

(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:

Wave #1 13'11" & 13'03"
Wave #2 12'10" & 14'11" - new personal best!
Wave #3 14'09" & 14'03"

(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!

(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 -

Friday - Splash #1 14'1" & 15'8" - new personal best
Friday - Splash #2 (in the dark) 16'9" - new personal best & 14'1"
Saturday - Semi-finals 17'9" - new personal best & 17'10" - new personal best
Sunday - Finals 18'0" - final new personal best & 17'3"

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!

(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!