Cello and Brian – Filmed By Drone!

At our last dock diving event, Family Fun Day, this past weekend in Elkton, MD, there was a drone flying around filming the weekend happenings.

Cello and Brian were filmed during one of their jumps – how cool is THAT?!?!

We were very excited with this first-time ever view of Cello in action!

Family Fun Day, Elkton, MD

Cello and Hooch’s first outdoor dock diving event of 2015 was held in Elkton, MD, at an event called Family Fun Day.

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Our spot in “Dog Town:”

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Cello:

Cello did not jump her best this weekend, but still put on a good show for the crowd!

Despite the fact that she was leaving early from the dock, which really affected her scores, Cello still won several medals this weekend!!

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Big Air:

19′ 11″

18′ 11″

18′ 2″

18′ 2″

19′ 4″

18′ 11″

18′ 11″

19′ 6″

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Extreme Vertical:

 5′ 0″        Second Place (Cadet Division)

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Speed Retrieve:

7.523 seconds – (a new Personal Best!!!!)           4th Place (Turbo Division)

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Iron Dog:

2691.44 points           First Place Iron Dog (Warrior Division)

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Hooch:

Hooch had been holding a sit/stay, and jumping in our lake at home with no hesitation for about the past month.  However, this did not transfer to the DockDogs dock and pool!  Hooch still will not sit/stay for me up on the dock, and still hesitated at the edge of the dock, ending with a “pop” when we least expected it.  He was quite the crowd-pleaser with his “Hoochie Hop!”

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Big Air:

8′ 2″           First Place (Novice Division)

7′ 6″

8′ 3″

9′ 0″          First Place (Novice Division)

9′ 2″          Second Place (Novice Division)

8′ 0″

8’10”          Second Place (Novice Division)

8′ 8″

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Overall, we had a great weekend with many good friends and lots of cool pups!

Woodlands Camping Resort, Elkton, MD

For Cello and Hooch’s Family Fun Day dock diving event, we camped at Woodlands Camping Resort in Elkton, MD.
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Woodlands Camping Resort is a semi-private camping resort with mostly seasonal sites.  They have 5 sites available for transient campers, like us, and also have two cabins available for renting.  
Woodlands is totally surrounded by Elk Neck State Forest, and is is only a short drive away from many other Chesapeake Bay area attractions.
We stayed on site 120:
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Our site was right at the Veterans Memorial, which they were working on the weekend we stayed at the campground.
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Around the campground…
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2018 Update
We stayed at this campground again – but this time with our Class A camper – and this time on site 47.  Site 47 is my new favorite campsite!
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Site 47 was so spacious, and perfect for walking the dogs!
What a large living space for a campsite!
Brian and Whiskey taking a walk through the campground.

Finding Nemo

Cello’s best friend is Nemo, a 4 year old male Boykin Spaniel.  Cello and Nemo have been buds since the first week they both came home with their humans! “Finding Nemo” was one of the best things that happened to Cello – as Nemo is the only dog Cello truly ever fully “accepted.”  If you have ever seen these two together, you can really see just how alike they are – and just how much they truly enjoy each other.  They have played, swam, had sleep-overs, camped, and of course dock-dived together!

Cello and Nemo lounging on the couch together:

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Cello and Nemo “holding hands” while sleeping during their first sleep-over:

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Nemo, like Cello, has been dock diving for about 1.5 years. In fact, they attended their first-ever dock diving event together!

Nemo’s mom, Cindy, wrote a beautiful article on Nemo, which was published in the Boykin Spaniel Society Magazine, and included a mention of Cello.

The two pictures that were chosen for the magazine happen to be two pictures I took of Nemo and Cello at Nemo’s house.

The article is a wonderful read!

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Although Nemo lives in our town, his mom, Cindy, has recently started a job in Michigan.  Nemo and his parents travel back and forth from Michigan to NJ, and we are often away at dock diving events, so Cello and Nemo don’t get to see each other as often as they used to.

We wish we could gather more often, so we do try to get together whenever both families are home in NJ and have a free weekend!

11 Months

Our little (or NOT so little!) Hooch turned 11 months old on April 24!

He weighs 57 pounds now!

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Hooch has been absolutely loving the water this Spring! He has been diving off of our dock at home!

Hooch has also been doing very well at his dock diving competitions!

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In fact, on his 11 month birthday, Hooch competed in the Family Fun Day dock diving event, and earned 2 First Place medals, and 2 Second Place medals! Way to go, Hooch!

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Happy 11 months, Hooch!

Nolde Forest State Park, Reading, PA

While camping at Eagles Peak Campground, we decided to do a local hike.

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We ended up at Nolde Forest State Park  – a gorgeous sate park with more than 665 acres of beautiful woodlands.

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What a beautiful place to hike! This area was acquired by Jacob Nolde  in the early 1900s.  As the story goes, a single white pine grew in a meadow. Inspired by this tree, Jacob Nolde hired an Austrian forester to create a coniferous forest. As the trees grew, they formed a this magnificent forest!

There was a pretty stream running through most of our hike.

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Cello and Hooch were excited to be on this adventure!

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Throughout the hike, there were many unique stone bridges and lined walkways.DSC06203

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This was  Hooch’s first Pennsylvania hike – and first hike in the warmer weather.  He was getting tired quickly, and began to stop in the shady areas for a breather!

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At one point, in usual Hooch fashion, he decided he was “DONE!” unnamed

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At the end of the hike, we were rewarded with the beauty of an early 1920’s mansion.  In 1926, Hans Nolde, a son of Jacob, began work on the Tudor-style mansion that sits on the property.  Today, visitors can tour the grounds as well as the inside of this mansion.

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The garden area of the mansion was incredible!DSC06228

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Pennsylvania purchased the property in the late 1960s , and in 1970, Nolde Forest was established as the first environmental education center operated by the Bureau of State Parks.  Now operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources,  and Bureau of State Parks, the park provides a wide variety of programs for students, teachers, and adult groups. Teaching stations offer places for students to work, and benches for those who wish to sit and enjoy nature.

Eagles Peak Campground, Robesonia, PA

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We were invited by friends to camp at Eagles Peak Campground in Robesonia, PA.  What a GREAT weekend we had!

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We had a very large, pull-through site (site 238).

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This campground had lots of cool features for kids!

The “Fun Zone” had a variety of inflatable slides and obstacle courses.

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The Eagles Peak Grand Prix is a race course for remote control cars:

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Miniature Golf Course:

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This campground also had two pools (one for the kids, and one for the adults) but the pools were not open for the season yet.DSC06259

We enjoyed walking around the campground, sitting around the campfire, and cooking up an incredible feast of crabs, clams, shrimp, filet mignon,

corn, potatoes, onions, broccoli, and asparagus with our group of friends! YUM!

Just a short drive brought us to a beautiful hike in Nolde Forest.

It was a fun weekend filled with good friends, fun conversation, interesting adventures, and delicious food!

TurboPUP Ambassadors

As some of you may have noticed, we now have a TurboPUP badge on the home page of our blog.

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Limoncello and Hooch are VERY proud to announce that they have been chosen to be ambassadors for TurboPUP (as seen on Shark Tank!!) 

Click HERE to see Shark Tank episode – start at the 21:30 mark.

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TurboPUP was founded by Kristina Guerrero (who’s nicknamed “Turbo”). In 2011, Kristina was on a back-country ski trip, and found her self without sufficient food for herself, and her rescued pup, Dunkan.  Kristina created a complete meal bar for dogs, packed with nutritious calories from 100% American sourced, grain free, all natural, human grade ingredients.  Some ingredients are organic as well! Check out TurboPUP’s products and place your order by clicking HERE  or click HERE to see a list of retailers that already carry TurboPUP!

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Not only are these meal bars packed with quality ingredients and calories for your pup, but 5% of the profits are donated to causes in support of dogs and Veterans!

Cello and Hooch are now a part of the TurboPup team, representing TurboPUP , and promoting the company’s products during all of their dock diving, camping, and hiking adventures!  They will soon be on TurboPUPs website, and will be featured periodically on TurboPUP’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!

Cello and Hooch were featured along with TurboPUP in the GSP Rescue of NJ’s newsletter, as well as on Barking from the Bayou’s BFTB NETWoof News!

GSP Rescue of NJ Newsletter:  

Click HERE to read the entire newsletter.

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…and click HERE to see Cello and Hooch featured in the Sports section of Barking From the Bayou’s Monday news post!

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 If you like to go on adventures with your four-legged family members like we do, TurboPUP is an easy, compact, and healthy way to fuel your on-the-go pup!

Find out more HERE!

Easter 2015 – Frontier Town Campground: Berlin, MD

This Easter we camped with friends at one of our favorite campgrounds – Frontier Town Campground, in Berlin, MD.

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We LOVED our campsite here! DSC05494_edited

We first discovered Frontier Town Campground when we attended a dock diving competition held right in the campground!  We camped here for the dock diving competition as well.

Here is the view from our site:

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The water views around the campground are gorgeous!DSC05497_edited

This was Hooch’s first-ever Easter!  It was exciting to make his basket for the first time!

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Cello’s Easter basket:

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Easter morning – the Easter Bunny has arrived to the 5th Wheel with toys and treats!

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Cello and Hooch had a great time opening their Easter baskets with the help of their Pop!

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After Cello and Hooch opened their Easter baskets, they had an Easter egg hunt in the 5th Wheel! …see if you can find all the “hidden” eggs! DSC05452_edited

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Yay! Hooch found his first bacon-filled Easter egg!DSC05467

After each egg is found, the pup who found the egg gets the bacon inside of the egg – Hooch thought this was LOTS of fun, and waited patiently for his bacon reward! DSC05471_edited

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Hooch enjoyed all his Easter treats and toys – and, of course, stole Cello’s bunny toy!

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Overall, we had a great trip, and Hooch enjoyed his first-ever Easter!