Flying Dogs!

Big Air

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I have been thinking about what I am going to do this summer. Horse Showing is still mostly out of the question. Hubby is not done with School and is still not employed so I doubt I will have the cash I need to hire help to go to any shows or send Patrick down to trainer Joe.

I think I may have a credit with him though - so he may yet go down for a month. I was gonna see if that could happen this month - but there are alot of Shows going on this month and I am not stupid, I know Pat won't get the riding time he needs if Joe is gone to shows all month. So I will either be patient and wait for a slow month - IF i have a credit or try to get him down there anyways and see if he can stay a little longer to make up for the time riding time he misses while Joe is gone.

This spring I am focusing on getting my place ready for Pat. I have told all my freinds and family I want fencing supplies for my birthday - I am only a few items short of being able to keep him in our pasture, at least for the summer.

I was still feeling the need to try something new and it came to me! Actually it came to me last fall but I have just recently decided to make it happen. Over the past few summers that I have had Roper I have been constantly amazed at how far and how fearlessly he jumps into the water. I constantly hear comments like "Wow that dog can jump! You should enter him in those dock jumping contests!" So I am finally going to do that.

Any dog papered or not can compete in DockDogs. They even have a Lap Dog class. One of the things that impressed me about DockDogs is that they say on their website that they "encourage people to get their dog out of the backyard and make it a part of their family." Well said.

I am going to try dock jumping with Roper! There is a DockDog event coming up in a few weeks in our area and I am going to take Roper into town and try it out. Once I decided to do that I learned everything I could about DockDogs and found - there is ALOT to learn! I have started some basic training with him on dry land and hopefully this weekend I will get the chance to practice jumping off an actual dock or ledge into water. I am teaching him "the chase" which is a technique where you teach the dog to jump off the dock into the water to try to catch the "chase object" (anything they love "to get" that floats can be a chase object) - so he is not just retrieving the object, he is actually trying to catch it in the air, supposedly this leads to bigger jumps. As usual Roper wintered REALLY well so he is also dieting and exercising to get ready for the DockDogs event.

Extreme Vertical

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DockDogs is the governing body for competitive dock jumping. There are 3 events you can compete in. Big Air (where they measure how far your dog can jump), Speed Retrieval (where they jump off the dock and are timed on how long it takes them to swim to the end of the competition pool grab a toy duck, and swim back their handler), and Extreme Vertical (where the dog jumps up off the dock to grab a hanging toy that has been positioned to certain height). I am going to start with Big Air, but may try Speed Retrieval with him next year. One dog, plus one handler is a TEAM - most teams are named after the dog ex: TEAM ROPER. Alot of people who do this have logos done up for their teams, crazy huh? Just look at what we've been missing out on in the Horse World?! TEAM PATRICK is no doubt going to a horse show in the future! LOL!

The Dog must sit at the end of the dock, up to 40ft away from it's handler and wait until called.

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The dog is called, starts the run down, then as he approaches the "launch zone (the most ideal sport for the dog to jump)" then the handler tosses the "chase object" in the water.

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I have learned there is a whole new world of people out there involved in these events and many of them do them nearly year around traveling all over the country to different contests. Believe it or not some people spend as much money on DockDogs as I do on horse shows! It's $20 in enter a "wave" - a set of competition that includes Dogs from all divisions. They start at Novice and go up to like Super Elite or something like that. Your division depends on the dog's age, and how far your dog is jumping - you start in Novice and if you dog jumps further than 11 ft he/she can graduate up to the next Division - if you win a Division in a competition you earn your dog a title (and a metal and a ribbon I think) unlike horse shows, DockDogs is very good at giving out prizes.

Where the dogs butt first touches the water is where the jump is marked. The world record is 28.7 feet - I believe. Two judges make the call - in the National Finals a video / digital system is used.

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If you place in the top 4 in the event finals you get money too. I think first place is $100 - not much, but better than a kick in the pants. There is anywhere from 3 to 5 "waves" held in one day. Events are usually 3-4 days long. And you can enter in as many "Waves" as you want, so theoretically you could spend quite a bit of money. Some folks even buy competition pools and put them in a heated shop or barn so they can practice year around!

Competition Pools are 20ft wide and at least 40 ft long and at least 4ft deep.

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Most people only enter in 1 or 2 Waves a day though - most feel you are only going to be able to get that many good jumps out of your dog. In each Wave you get 2 jumps, the longest of the two is kept as your score for that Wave. Getting it? I am just starting to. So you could win your division in that Wave - and qualify possible for the event finals on the last day. If you did poorly you could try another Wave the next day or later on that same day. A "Big Air Wave" is almost like a horse show - a one class horse show, with all the age groups and one group for the pros. You'll have the winners in those divisions and groups and at the end of the weekend the people from those groups with the best score will come together and see who is the best in the finals!

There is even an announcer! Your dog earns points toward qualifying for the World / National Finals all year - also like horse shows....

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There is a "crating area" at each event and this is where people set up a "home base" for their dogs where they can put all of their stuff and get ready ---- picture the horse trailer parking lot or a tack stall at a horse show. People bring canopies, chairs, crates, coolers, team logo banners....all kinds of stuff. It cracks me up!

Crating area with tired napping dogs.
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People train dogs year around for this stuff - and from what I have seen the training is not too difficult and it is really fun! Every time you compete with or train your dog, he is basically getting to play in the water - and that's what I really love about it! Roper lives to fetch stuff out of the water and to jump in the water. If I bring him to some water and don't throw something in it for him - he will jump in and swim around after imaginary objects - or he will annoy the crap out of me by bring me various objects he's found that I could throw for him. He is really getting smart about this too - he knows if its too heavy, or big, or rough I won't throw it - so my dog has ACTUALLY learned what "I" like to throw and will go find something suitable, thus increasing his chances of getting to play.

I won't be able to afford to do lots of "Waves" with Roper but even if I just do 1 or 2 it won't cost nearly as much as a horse show. Anyway I am incredibly excited about trying this and will keep you updated. Muahahaha!