Friends and fellow GSP Rescue of NJ volunteers, Jen and Grace, made Cello and Hooch their very own personalized donation vests!
Cello even collected donations in between jumps at her team canopy!
…and “Aunt Jen” & “Aunt Grace” made Cello a personalized Dock Diving bag for all her gear!
Volunteers of the 2-legged and 4-legged kind put in lots of hard work and time educating people about the breed, rescue, volunteering, adopting, and how NOT to support puppy mills.
This is Cello’s second year in a row competing in Delmarva DockDogs “Jumping Into Jersey” event at the Ocean County Gunning and Decoy Festival, held annually at Tuckerton Seaportin Tuckerton, NJ.
Unfortunately the DockDogs website is under construction, so I cannot post her exact results, but Cello did win several Big Air medals during this event, and even made the Big Air Finals, finishing third in the Elite (23′ to 24′ 1″ rage) Finals Division, earning a cash prize, bit ribbon, and a gift bag!
Big Air Divisions:
Novice: 0’1″ – 9’11”
Junior: 10’0″ – 14’11”
Senior: 15’0″ – 19’11”
Master: 20’0″ – 22’11”
Elite: 23’0″ – 24’11”
Super Elite: 25′ and above
Brian giving Cello a pep talk…looks like she is giving him back some sass!
Hooch watching his big sis…
Hooch and Cello hanging out under the Team Cello canopy between jumps…
Cello also tried Extreme Vertical (high jump) for the first time! is a high jump contest. Dogs are released by their handlers, and launch upward to knock down a bumper, which is suspended over the water eight feet out from the end of the dock. The current world record is 8′ 11″ . Cello did really well for her first time, and placed 5th in the Cadet Division Finals, earning a big pretty ribbon!
Extreme Vertical Divisions:
Cadet: Up to 5’11”
Top Gun: 6’0″ to 6’11”
High Flyer: 7’0″ and above
Here is Cello in action during one of her Big Air waves:
Cello in Slo-Mo:
As always, the weekend was filled with great people, lots of fun, and many super-cool pups!
We were very proud of our little Dock Diving Diva!
Puppy Head Start is for puppies that are between the ages of 9 to 16 weeks at the start of class. This class is an introduction to puppy raising and management. Lessons taught included polite greeting behavior, walking on leash without pulling, the emergency down (drop), leaving things alone when told to, discussions on mouthing, house-training, safe socialization, and other subjects of importance to puppy owners. Each class lasted approximately an hour, including supervised playtime.
Hooch got a Philadelphia Eagles Jersey, Eagles tug-toy, and a foot ball for graduation gifts 🙂
Hooch’s next class: “Terrible Teens!” This class is for adolescent pups from 17 weeks to 12 months. This class will center on basic obedience, with a primary focus on how to utilize these exercises to produce a well-mannered pup. Discussions in class will center on exploring our dogs’ behaviors, and solutions to the problems commonly seen at this developmental stage.
A lot of people ask me WHY we would want to spend most of our free weekends traveling many miles to take Cello to dock diving events and practices. Most don’t understand why we enjoy this so much. Some are disappointed that we miss other events to attend dock diving competitions and practices. Many people chuckle, and even roll their eyes, when they hear my answer to the their question of “What did you do this weekend?” I get counter responses like, “It’s just a dog” (Ummm – really?! Click HERE to find out what “Just a dog” means to US, and why we feel sorry for those who “Just don’t understand!”) …”Your dog does WHAT?” … “So, let me get this straight… you spent your whole weekend watching your dog jumping into a pool?” …”You’re kidding, right?” (No, …we are NOT kidding!!)
Aside from spending time with some of coolest dogs and nicest people we have ever met, there’s an even greater reason…
I found this on Facebook, and It couldn’t explain any better just WHY we do what we do:
WHY TITLE A DOG?
Not just a brag, not just a stepping stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores, a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a way to honor the dog, an ultimate memorial. It will remain in record and in memory for as long as anything in this world can remain. Few humans will do as well or better in that regard.
And though the dog itself doesn’t know or care that its achievements have been noted, a title says many things in the world of humans, where such things count.
A title says your dog was intelligent and adaptable, and good-natured. It says that your dog loved you enough to do the things that please you, however crazy they may have sometimes seemed.
And a title says that you loved your dog, that you loved to spend time with it because it was a good dog, that you believed in it enough to give it yet another chance when it failed, and that in the end, your faith was justified.
A title proves that your dog inspired you to that special relationship enjoyed by so few; that in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved, and loved greatly in return.
And when that dear short live is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, the best you can give to a deserving friend, volumes of pride in one small set of initials after the name.
A title earned is nothing less than love and respect, given and received, and permanently recorded.
Today Hooch turns 15 weeks old! This has been a VERY exciting week for us because Hooch decided that he FINALLY likes the lake – and dove in all by himself! It started with Hooch jumping in to follow Cello. Then Brian started throwing a ball – and Hooch dove in off the steps to retrieve it! We are VERY excited! This week we continue to work on name recognition, “come,” “down” with duration, and will be adding “leave-it” to our practice schedule.
Here is Hooch diving in after his ball! The ball is still a bit big for him – so it took some effort to grab it!
We call Cello our little Dock Diving Diva… will Hooch be our little Dock Diving Dude?! We are anxious to see if in the following weeks Hooch will attempt to dive off the dock!
Good work, everyone!
