I am disappointed in myself for falling behind on this blog, but writing about Margarita’s Lymphoma journey each week has prompted me to remember the whole reason I began this journal of posts in the first place: to share all the memories that have been gifted to me by my fur-kids. It’s important to me to be able to look back on just how blessed we are to be spending a part of our lives with each and every special 4-legged angel included in this blog.
My first “catch-up” post is the 2018 DockDogs World Championship!
This was our 4th consecutive year that we have been fortunate enough to have all competing dogs qualify for the World Championship. Even though two out of our five do not compete, we have a “no dog left behind” policy, so we travel in our camper as a family to this exciting event!
Of course we updated all of our team “bling!”
2019 Trading Cards
Team Banner:
Team Shirts:
Special Shirt Made for Whiskey’s First Year:
RV Window Decals:
This is the 2nd year the World Championship was held in Knoxville, TN.
Getting ready to leave, and tracking our miles along our road trip:
My mom was waiting outside of her house to wish us luck!
We were worried about how Whiskey would handle such a long trip…but she didn’t seem to mind one bit!
Every year one of the DockDogs clubs puts out a Road Trip Bingo game for all team handlers to play along the way!
We did get Bingo, but did not win first place!
Some road trippin’ fun along the way:
Rita loves to roll in the bed pillows!
Hooch using Rita as a pillow
Road trippin
I get to snuggle while Brian drives the RV
Truth!
Cello and Rita
We are HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Check-in:
The moment we’ve all been waiting for!!!!!!
Dog Town:
The amazing lady in this next photo is one of the people who helped Whiskey (then known as “Wish”) on her freedom ride from the kill-shelter to our house in NJ. Not only did she do several legs of the transport in TN, she sent Whiskey with special treats to wish her well in her new life. When she heard that Whiskey had made the World Championship, she booked a hotel and came out to meet us, visit with Whiskey, and watch her up on the competition dock! As you can see, the blur-that-is-Whiskey was just a “little” excited!
As we arrived and set up our spot in “Dog Town,” a friend of ours presented me with one of the most amazing surprises ever!
He was going to paint Whiskey in between competitions!
“Paint me like one of your French girls.”
This was one of THE most thoughtful and loving gifts we had ever received!
Limoncello: Team Coach
Cello is now retired due to heart disease. She very much enjoyed hanging out at the team canopy and getting lots of attention from her DockDogs family!
Hooch
Hooch was fired up, but his normal 23+ foot jumps were just not there.
Round 1:
Big Air:
21′ 7″
21′ 5″
Round 2:
Big Air:
21′ 0″
21′ 8″
Lager
Round 1:
Big Air:
17’8″
18’3″
Extreme Vertical:
5’8″
Speed Retrieve:
9.873 seconds
Iron Dog Score:
2579.84 points (ranked 21 overall for Round 1)
Round 2:
Big Air:
17’3″
18’11”
Extreme Vertical:
Double-missed (no score – which unfortunately also disqualified him from getting a qualifying Iron Dog score)
Speed Retrieve:
7.582 seconds
Margarita: Team Cheerleader
Rita enjoyed “helping” during setup!
She also enjoyed hanging out with her main-man, Mr. Spock the English Pointer!
Whiskey
This was Whiskey’s first trip to the World Championship, but not her first time in TN… Whiskey was born in TN and dumped in a kill shelter before we took her in as a foster pup with Pointer Rescue, Organization in May 2018.
Round 1:
Big Air:
Timed-out (refused to jump)
Round 2:
Big Air:
Timed-out (refused to jump)
Although Whiskey refused to jump, she sure put on a show for the crowd!
Although none of our competing dogs performed as well as we had hoped, we are thrilled we had another opportunity to be a part of such an exciting event, and honored to have competed against the best dogs in the World! People asked us if we were disappointed in our dog’s performance – NEVER! Would we have liked to have made finals? SURE! But, what’s most important is that our dogs had a blast, we had fun competing our dogs, and we learned from the experience.
Brian and Lager
Jenny and Hooch
Jenny/Rita and Brian/Cello
Jenny and Whiskey
We are very much looking forward to the 2019 Dock Diving Season!
This was our first time competing at this event held atKlem’s . We had heard how nice it was – and we sure were not disappointed! The venue was easy to get in and out of, and the spectators and competitors were very friendly!
Limoncello: Team Coach
In between yelling at the boys, Limoncello enjoyed napping in the shade at our team canopy.
Hooch
Big Air
23’9″ 1st Place Elite Division
23’9″ 3rd Place Elite Division
23’3″ 2nd Place Elite Division
Big Air Finals: 23’10” 2nd Place
Extreme Vertical All-in-One-Final Format: 6’2″
Lager
Big Air
18’3″
20’0″
20’1″
20’11”
Extreme Vertical All-in-One Final Format: 5’10”
Speed Retrieve
7.136 seconds 3rd Place Turbo Division
Iron Dog
2892.45 points First Place Titan Division
Margarita
Margarita enjoyed walking the grounds, snacking on yummy treats, and napping along with Cello under our team canopy.
Whiskey
Whiskey was still our foster puppy, “Wish,” at the time. She enjoyed the attention from all the spectators, and concentrated on doing her best with chewing her special Wish-bone.
Overall, this event was a success for our team, and most of all – FUN for all! We hope to be able to attend this competition next year!
This event on the first weekend of June was one of the coolest settings and backdrops we have had for a competition! We even got to camp right at the event!
Hooch had fractured his paw a few weeks back, and he had JUST been cleared to try one jump per day at this event. Apparently we need to restrict his activity before all events, as he earned himself a new personal best Big Air score this weekend!
Big Air:
24’11” First Place Elite Division and **New Personal Best!
Video of Hooch jumping 24’11’:
Big Air Elite Division Finals: 24’8″ First Place
Lager:
Big Air:
19’6″ 1st Place Senior Division
18’6″ 3rd Place Senior Division
16’5″
Big Air Senior Division Finals: 19’2″ 3rd Place
Extreme Vertical: 6’2″
Margarita:
Rita enjoyed the crowd and as always, received lots of attention and love from everyone!
Three months after returning from Iraq, two months after joining our family, and after competing in only 2 National events, Lager earned his invitation to the DockDogs World Championship for Senior Division Big Air! Words cannot express how proud we are of this boy!
What a fun and exciting Valentines Day weekend we had!
We took a 5.5 hour drive down to Hampton, Virginia, for Cello and Hooch to participate in the World of Pets Expo dock diving competition,”Lover’s Leap,” hosted by Tidewater DockDogs.
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, there was a Pawentine’s Box decorating contest.
Before we left, I built our Pawentine’s Box. Here are the pictures after I built the box with foam board and a hot glue gun:
Here is the final product:
There were many other great Pawentine’s Boxes in the contest as well:
We made Pawentine cards to place in the other boxes:
Hooch and Cello received lots of really cute Pawentines in our box!
The dog treats above were homemade by our friend, Mandy. Check out her Face Book page – her cookies are AMAZING!
We won the contest!
Although Cello has not been performing up to her last season’s standards, she had a great weekend! Cello competed as an Iron Dog, and participated in all three events: Big Air, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve.
In Big Air, Cello’s longest jump of the weekend was 21’11.” She made the Elite Finals, and placed Third.
In Extreme Vertical, She reached a height of 5’4,” and placed Third overall in the Cadet Division.
Cello set a new Personal Best in Speed Retrieve at 8.788 seconds:
…AND Cello placed FIRST in Iron Dog in the Warrior Division! Way to go, Cello!
Hooch also had a BIG weekend! He placed in every Big Air wave he jumped in, and earned his first First Place ribbon!
In just his second event ever, Hooch even made Novice Finals – and placed Second!
Hooch was once again, a crowd-pleaser, with his last-minute “pop” off the dock:
Hooch’s best jump of the weekend was 8’10”
While we were there, someone recognized Cello from our Instagram account — our friends, Cyndee and Lola – – How cool is THAT?!?!
This was a SUPER-fun event, and the best Valentine’s Day weekend ever!
Cello and Hooch hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day!
