K9 Fun Zone 3rd Annual Wild Card Double Header; Caledonia, Ontario, Canada

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Cello's Corner | 2 Comments

We’ve had a rough start to the season between Porter’s seizures and Margarita’s Lymphoma and complications that followed. We weren’t even sure we were able to attend this event until the morning we were supposed to be leaving for our road trip. In fact, it wasn’t until about noon on July 3rd that I finished up with Margarita’s last oncology appointment and got the “ok” from her oncologist, Dr. Risbon, to travel to Canada with her. We didn’t preregister for the competition, knowing we may not even be able to attend. A lot of the jumps were marked as “full” but we know that each venue usually holds about 5 slots for people to sign up on the spot. With all of this in mind, we set still out on our way to Canada late in the afternoon of July 3rd. Boy, are we glad we did!

Limoncello

Limoncello enjoyed being a part of The B.A.A.A.R.K Foundation charity ball drop and having a girls GLAMping weekend with Margarita lounging in the air-conditioned camper.

Hooch

Hooch had the second longest jump of the competition! This was also his first time competing in a national event as an Iron Dog. His performance should earn him an automatic World Championship invite in Elite Division Big Air, Nitro Division Speed Retrieve, and Gladiator Division Iron Dog!!

Big Air:

23’7″ 1st Place Elite Division

23’9″ 1st Place Elite Division

Big Air PRO Finals:

22’0″

Pic Credit: Nancy Miller

Extreme Vertical:

6’2″

Speed Retrieve:

6.564 seconds 1st Place Nitro Division

Iron Dog:

2973.62 points 1st Place Gladiator Division

Lager

Lager had an absolute blast this weekend getting to play his favorite game of Dueling Dogs, and participating in The B.A.A.A.R.K Foundation charity ball drop! His performance this weekend should land him an automatic World Championship invite in Turbo Division Speed Retrieve and Titan Division Iron Dog.

Big Air:

19’11”

20’5″ 3rd Place Masters Division

19’2″

20’4″ 1st Place Masters Division

Extreme Vertical:

5’10”

Speed Retrieve:

7.304 seconds 1st Place Turbo Division

Iron Dog:

2876.3 points 3rd Place Titan Division

Dueling Dogs:

Lager made it to the first round of finals, but unfortunately was bumped out in the last round. He LOVES this game!

Margarita

What a weekend this little Diva had…Margarita enjoyed Donuts, a banana split, a convertible ride, a Canada Goose stuffed toy, and other gifts from our Canadian DockDogs family!

Whiskey

Wish-The-Fish came out in FULL force and she increased her jumping distance with each leap into the pool, earning a 2nd or 3rd Place medal for every jump and a new PB of 8’3”! We are hopeful her average Big Air score will earn her a World Champion invitation in the Novice Division, but we will have to wait and see if the Invite Fairy pays her a visit!

Big Air:

3’5″ 2nd Place Novice Division

7’5″ 3rd Place Novice Division

8’3″ 2nd Place Novice Division

7’0″ 2nd Place Novice Division

Porter

Po-Po had a great time walking the facility grounds and also enjoyed an amazing massage from Marti at Pawz Therapy !

Liver Killer Bling:

K9 Central Wild Card Double Header: Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Cello's Corner | 2 Comments

This venue by far is our favorite! The event at K9 Central has camping on site, awesome pool set-up, and some of THE nicest people you will ever meet!

Not only is the venue our favorite, the easy drive, and the beautiful scenery add to the enjoyment of our road trip.

One of the most exciting parts of this journey is the Thousand Islands Bridge.

I am not a fan of bridges – especially narrow ones (yikes!).

However, I do my best to put my fear aside so that I don’t miss out on the beautiful scenery of the Thousand Islands area on either side of the bridge. The view is gorgeous, and you get to see many of the privately owned islands while crossing the bridge.

The past few years we had taken a few extra days off for this trip, so we are usually the first ones there! We love how close our camper is to the pool!

This was also the first trip in our new camper!

We upgraded to a bigger camper with double slides so we could have more room !

Limoncello: Team Coach

Limoncello enjoyed lounging in the camper with Margarita. Coaching Hooch and Lager is a “ruff” job – so Cello relieved some stress by getting a massage from our friend, Marti, at Pawz Therapy.

Hooch

Big Air

22’6″
23’3″ 1st Place Elite Division
22’9″
24’1″ 1st Place Elite Division
23’3″ 1st Place Elite Division
22’9″
Big Air Pro Division Finals: 22’6

Extreme Vertical All-in-One Final Format

This probably was the most exciting Extreme Vertical for Hooch and Jenny as a team! Hooch matched his personal best, grabbed the bumper at 6’6″ and in the end earned 3rd Place Top Gun Division – but not before Hooch had to go into a “jump-off” with 2 other dogs who were in a 3-way tie with him!

Lager

Big Air

17’7″
19’1″
20’9″ 2nd Place Master Division
18’6″ 2nd Place Senior Division
19’2″ 1st Place Senior Division
19’8″ 1st Place Senior Division

Extreme Vertical All-in-One Final Format

6’2″

Speed Retrieve All-in-One Final Format

7.037seconds 1st Place Turbo Division

Iron Dog All-in-One Final Format

2920.34 3rd Place Gladiator Division

Margarita: Team Cheerleader

Margarita made sure to get her beauty rest in the camper with Limoncello in between cheering-on her siblings during the competition. She also enjoyed a massage with Marti!

Whiskey (Wish): First Ever DockDogs Competition AND Adoption Day!

Whiskey was still our foster dog, Wish at the time of this trip. However, she had begun jumping into the lake at home, so I figured, why not try her up on the dock?!?!

We had been calling her “Wish the Fish,” so I bought Whiskey very own “fish wubba” for the dock.

I registered her under the name “WISHkey,” as a guest Liver Killer team member, and hoped for the best! Whiskey not only jumped into the pool, but earned herself a DockDogs World Championship invitation!

Big Air

5’10”

4’3″

7’0″ Second Place Novice Division

6’3″ Second Place Novice Division

We had fallen in love with Whiskey long before this trip, but had been fighting the urge to adopt her. We decided while on this trip we would no longer fight that fight, and called Pointer Rescue, Organization to let them know we would like to adopt her. Welcome home, Tennessee Whiskey!

Liver Killer Bling

We had been known for our American Flag team canopy for quite some time now. Unfortunately, at this event, a huge wind gust came along and mangled it! We have been searching for another one ever since.

This was also not a very good “maiden voyage” in our new camper. It had rained very hard the last day of this competition, and the ground became extremely muddy. We sank – A LOT – and had to get towed out.

Luckily there was no damage done to the camper and we made it safely home!

We can’t wait to come back to Canada next year!

K9 Fun Zone Wild Card Double Header: Caledonia, Ontario, Canada

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Cello's Corner | Leave a comment

We enjoyed our trips to Canada so much in the past, that we decided to go to a different part of Ontario to compete at a venue we had never been to in the past…Caledonia! We had heard great things about this event and were very excited to compete at K9 Fun Zone!

Our camping spot on-site at K-9 Fun Zone…so close to the pool!

Limoncello: Team Coach

Limoncello enjoyed a massage from our fiend, Marti, at Pawz Therapy!

Limoncello was also chosen to be the retrieval dog for the charity ball-drop! This was a special treat for Limoncello – as she has been retired from competing in dock diving due to a heart issue. To make it even more memorable, Limoncello wore the collar of the owners dog at K-9 Fun Zone, who had recently passed away from cancer.

Hooch

Hooch did not do his best in Big Air at this event, but he made up for that in the Extreme Vertical competition later in the weekend!

Big Air

21’6″

20’4″

21’6″

21’5″

21’1″

21′

21’6″

Semi-Pro Finals: 19’0″ 5th Place

Extreme Vertical (All in One Finals format)

Hooch tied his personal best of 6’6″ which earned him 2nd Place overall in the Top Gun Division, and a DockDogs World Championship invitation for Extreme Vertical!

Lager

Lager had a GREAT competition and earned a World Championship invitation in every discipline in which he competed!

Big Air

18’3 2nd Place Senior Division

17’1″

19’3″ 2nd Place Senior Division

18’7″ 1st Place Senior Division

Extreme Vertical – All in One Final Format

6ft 4th Place Top Gun Division

Speed Retrieve

2884.82 2nd Place Turbo Division – which earned Lager a World Championship Speed Retrieve invitation!

Iron Dog – All in One Final Format

2884.82 points 1st Place Overall Titan Division – this earned him a Titan Iron Dog World Championship invitation!

Dueling Dogs

7.184 seconds 2nd Place in Class 2 Finals – which earned him an invitation to the Dueling Dogs World Championship (Separate from the Dock Dogs World Championship)

Margarita: Team Cheerleader

Margarita also enjoyed a massage from our fiend, Marti, at Pawz Therapy! Margarita has gotten a massage each of the three times we have been to Canada so far!

Whiskey (Still Wish, our foster pup)

Whiskey (who was still our foster pup at the time) had a great trip – it was her first time in Canada! We decided to celebrate by getting her a massage as well! Whiskey liked holding a toy and watching the competition during her massage!

We had been to Canada a couple of times, but have never tried poutine (a dish originating from the Canadian province of Quebec, consisting of French fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy) – we finally had some! It was quite different and we liked it!

This venue gave our the most amazing prize bags!

We were quite happy we decided to try out this competition – we’ll be back next year for sure!

Canadian Regional Championship, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Cello's Corner | 2 Comments

These pups took us on yet another grand adventure! Brian, Jenny, Limoncello, Hooch, and Rita have never been outside of the United States, so we were super excited! Canada is the 5th country Lager has been to!!

This event was a competition for a chance to earn an invitation to the 2016 DockDogs World Championship this November in Dubuque, Iowa! This was SUCH a fun event at a great location! The Liver Killers did amazing! Cello, Hooch, and Lager ALL earned not one, but TWO invites to the DockDogs World Championship… that’s an invite for every discipline we competed in!! So proud of these pups!

The road trip to our destination in Bowmanville, Ontario was very exciting!

: Last U.S. exit!

: Getting ready to go over the Thousand Islands Bridge!

: Gorgeous!

: Waiting in line at Customs

One of the best things about this venue was that we could camp right there!

Invitations to the DockDogs World Championship:

LIMONCELLO AND BRIAN:
-1st Place Warrior Division Iron Dog
-1st Place Master Division Big Air

Photo credit: Precise Video Productions

HOOCH AND JENNY:
-1st Place Cadet Division Extreme Vertical
-2nd Place Elite Division Big Air

Photo Credit: Precise Video Productions

LAGER AND BRIAN:
-2nd Place Top Gun Division Extreme Vertical

Photo Credit: Mandy Eiche

LAGER AND JENNY:
-3rd Place Senior Division Big Air

Photo Credit: Mandy Eiche

MARGARITA:

Rita enjoyed her first trip out of the country! She really came out of her shell and started to show a super-funny personality. She chased a drone, and jumped on our camper table to get a better view out the window! Thanks to a few of her “DockDogs Aunts,” she learned how to swim in the DockDogs pool, and found out that toys were super fun. She even got a massage by a certified equine/canine masseuse!