Tomorrow we leave for our road trip to Iowa for the 2021 DockDogs World Championship! We are beyond excited to embark on this grand adventure and overjoyed that we will be able to spend time with our dockdogs family – some who we haven’t seen since pre-Covid!! We will miss our Canadian dockdogs family immensely.
We chose to skip the trip in 2020 due to neither of us being vaccinated yet for Covid, so regardless of how our pups perform, we are just content and thankful that we will be able to go this year, and our focus is on gratitude and having fun with our pups! Brian and I are very proud of our pack considering they only competed in a couple of National events and still qualified for the world championship. Although our pups each earned multiple invitations, we chose to decline some and accept only a limited number. This will lessen our load at Worlds and allow us to focus more on Porter, Martini, and spending time with friends after a rough season.
2021 DockDogs World Championship Invitations
Just some of the reasons we are so proud of our team this year:
💛Limoncello
After a mandatory retirement in 2018 due to advanced Dilated Cardiomyopathy, Cello miraculously had a complete recovery in 2019 and was cleared to compete with no restrictions. Although her DCM has resurfaced and she is on a restricted activity schedule with limited jumping at events, she still managed to earn a Big Air invitation and will be competing at the World Championship in the Legend Division (this division is for 10-11yr old dogs).
💚Hooch
I scratched Hooch the weekend Rita passed away so with the limited events we attended this year he did not have enough scores in Extreme Vertical, or Iron Dog to be ranked worldwide in these disciplines. This year at the World Championship he will be be competing in Big Air / Master Division.
- Ranked dockdogs #1 GSP Worldwide in Big Air (an amazing accomplishment for the 4th time in his career!!)
- Ranked dockdogs #1 GSP Worldwide in Speed Retrieve
🇺🇸Lager
Lager’s excitement for the dock is just as vibrant as when he participated in his first dockdogs event back in 2015. His enthusiasm is a daily inspiration for us. This year at the World Championship he will be competing in Big Air / Veteran Division (This division is for dogs 8-9yrs old). Lager will also be competing as in Iron Dog in the Titan Division.
💜Whiskey
Wish the Fish started off strong and even though we still don’t have a set routine in place for the dock, she began the season by jumping off the dock in less than 30 seconds, and earned her World Championship invitation in her first 2021 competition. By her second competition she was back to her dock shenanigans and more interested in entertaining the crowd with her zoomies on the dock. She has qualified for the World Championship each year since 2018, but has never actually jumped in the pool at the event… so finger crossed we will have a wet Whiskey at Worlds this year!
💙Porter
Porter has spent this season taking over the position of Team-Attention-Glommer, and he’s done a darn good job of it! He has very much enjoyed the naps, head scratches and belly rubs from all who took time out of their 2021 competitions to visit with him at our team canopy. After nearly losing him during a status epilepticus episode 10 months ago, we are beyond grateful for the added time we have been granted and are very excited for him to make his second trip to the World Championship.
🧡Jägermeister
Nothing but excitement for this boy! He was surrendered due to his epilepsy, and not only been seizure-free for over a year now, but he has also fell in love with the sport of dock diving! This was also only his first year competing in National events! During his first DockDogs World Championship, Jägermeister will be competing in Big Air / Senior Division, and Speed Retrieve / Turbo Divsion.
- Ranked dockdogs #1 GSP Worldwide in Iron Dog (a combination of all 3 disciplines)
- Ranked dockdogs #3 GSP Worldwide in Extreme Vertical
- Ranked dockdogs #3 GSP Worldwide in Speed Retrieve
Photo credit: Precise Image Creations
💠Martini
Martini attended her very first DockDogs competition in September and did a wonderful job amongst all the commotion. We think she actually felt more comfortable being around a big group of dogs, as she came from a large kennel situation prior to being saved by Pointer Rescue Organization. We are hopeful that she will feel just as secure at Worlds, but it will be a new environment, which could be challenging. Thankfully we will be able to watch her closely thanks to our limited competition schedule.
💖Margarita
Sweet Reet, you were THE BEST Cheerleader any team could ever ask for. This is the first World Championship without you. I will miss painting your little piggy toes pink in preparation for the event, so I will be painting mine pink in your honor. We will miss you dearly, but also know that you will be by our sides in spirit. You will forever be the team MVP in our hearts.
Team Bling
Between trying to cope with the loss of Rita and dealing with the major construction at the house, we chose to skip the Worlds bling this year. The bling (team trading cards, decals, shirts) is my job so I’ll take full “blame” for it. Part of it was me not wanting to accept having to adjust our logo (don’t worry- Rita will still be on the future cards, shirts and decals!)… and part of it was just way too much construction mayhem – – the dogs having to be cooped up during the long construction hours creating not enough construction-free-time in the day to exercise them and still get other things done. With the permission of GSP Rescue of NJ & Pointer Rescue Organization, I do plan to do a (newly designed) Liver Killers T-shirt fundraiser for the rescues when I am able to update our logo… so stay tuned!
Our Team will be wearing their new EMM Loans sponsored Super Fly Suits that also have Margarita’s angel wings embroidered on them to help our pups fly!
Over the next week or so we hope you join us on our pack’s biggest adventure of 2021 by following along on our team’s Facebook and Instagram pages!
