Limoncello and Hooch made the top story on the front page of South Jersey’s newspaper!

The Courier Post sent a reporter and photographer to our home to do a story on The Liver Killers.  We had such a great time, and the story and video came out great!

Here’s the video:

And here’s the story:

MEDFORD LAKES – Limoncello — Cello for short — greeted this reporter with a kiss and then turned her laser focus to the turf runway her owners, Brian and Jenny Beadling, built for her and her canine sibling, Hooch.

Cello had a job to do, and she was serious about it.

She had to get that ball.

And she was just waiting for Brian to toss it from the Beadlings’ dock and into Aetna Lake.

The 4-year-old German shorthaired pointer watched, waited, and then, while the bright orange ball with the blue stripe was in the air, ran and flung herself to retrieve it, landing with a splash and a big doggie smile, the ball in her mouth as she paddled ashore.

Cello and Hooch are among the top dock diving dogs not only in the nation, but in the world, as ranked by Dock Dogs, the national group overseeing the sport. The Beadlings’ dogs compete all over the East Coast, traveling year-round to competitions measuring lengths of their jumps and how high they go.

The pointers, bred to be hunting dogs, are a high-energy breed, Brian Beadling said. “They’re in the same line as vizslas and weimeraners.”

That means their owners have to be high-energy, too. “Their vet told us, ‘They have no “off” button,’ ” he said.

Indeed, the Beadlings’ lakefront log cabin they dubbed “Windy Spot” looks as much like a retreat for the dogs as for the couple. There’s the runway which extends a few feet further into the lake, as well as a metal arm that swings out over the water for the dogs to jump and grab toys on their way down.

After buying the 1920s cabin in 2009, the couple worked to restore it and Brian Beadling, who works in the mortgage business, researched the home’s history. He found the home’s original owner had a German shorthaired pointer named Windy Spot, and that was the first the couple had heard about the breed.

Windy Spot — the dog — had won several field awards with a local dog club and so the couple, after more research, decided on the breed. They got Limoncello in 2011 from a Chatsworth farm and named her for Jenny’s grandfather’s special homemade Italian liquor.

Hooch — Beadling calls him the “goofy little brother” — is a year old and was initially reluctant to go into the water. But at 15 weeks, he decided Cello shouldn’t have all the fun and, as Jenny Beadling says, “We haven’t been able to keep him out of the water since.”

Kathy Parkin helps the dogs keep fit by working with them at Pinelands Dog Training Center in Medford. She’s been working with Cello and Hooch for about 10 months, she said.

“The dogs love it,” said Parkin, who’s been a trainer for 12 years. “We work with them to build their core and leg muscles, work on agility exercises, stretching, stability.”

The Beadlings travel two to four times each month with the dogs, loading them into their brand-new GMC Denali (which already has logged 20,000 miles since November). They choose campgrounds and dog-friendly restaurants when they travel, treating Cello and Hooch as full members of the family.

“If they can’t go, we don’t go,” Jenny Beadling said. “But they’re great dogs, very well-behaved.”

The competitions pay $100 for first-place finishes; $50 for second, but Cello is sponsored by Turbo Pup, a meal supplement for dogs.

All cash prizes, she said, go to the dogs: GSP Rescue of New Jersey, a nonprofit dedicated to the breed. Contents of their prize bags, like food, treats and toys, are all donated to the Animal Orphanage in Voorhees.

“They’re great people, too,” Parkin said of the Beadlings.

Phaedra Trethan: (856) 486-2417; ptrethan@gannettnj.com

Here’s the link to the online story and video:

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2015/08/21/south-jersey-dogs-leap-national-dock-diving-ranks/32139705/