Friday

We left later than the original plan was to head to the UAD Ultimate Air Games. Then we hit loads, and loads of construction and ended up being severely late to our Splash. Luckily, Sara said she would make room for us in the 8 pm Splash and so we had plenty of time to set up and get ready. We unloaded the kennels and then headed out to find some information about where we were camping. We had signed up to have a site for Friday night only but were then informed that the camping was first-come, first-serve. We rushed over and found a spot, popped the tent and (as an extra precaution) put the EZ-Up over the tent. There were tons of people all over the place by the pool. It was insanely busy.

Here are the boys - waiting their turn:

Finally, it was time for us to compete. Mason was in the first group so I brought him up before Midas. He was pretty nervous, but really wanted to go in (which he vocalized clearly!).

After some “encouragement” (gentle push when he was leaning out over the water ), he finally got the nerve to go in himself. By the time it was our turn for the competition jump he was worked up enough to jump by himself. His first jump was 2′3″ and his second was 2′6″ - doesn’t sound like much but we were sooooo excited! Go little dude!

Next was Midas in the second group. I held him out of sight of the pool so that his screaming would be more subdued and he wouldn’t upset anyone in front of him. When it was our turn he was raring to go and lunged right up the stairs. His first jump was only 14′10″, which is over 3′ shorter than his usual average. His next jump was marginally better at 15′, but barely put him into his division. He was very distracted on the dock and kept looking through the bars - overall, not his best day of jumping . Oh well, he had fun anyway.

After Midas was done, we headed over to get our air mattress into the tent and go to bed (we were both pretty exhausted). Someone had parked their camper next to us, with four barking (hysterically) Weimeraner’s. They didn’t shut up the entire time we were setting up. To top it off, some lady blew our whole line for electric so we had to walk around the corner to blow up the air mattress….at which point, it started to rain - oh goody. We hustled and got the tent set up and the boys settled inside and started to drift off (thank goodness for the EZ-Up). The Weim’s kept barking intermittently…and then again at 6 am. The red-necks that were with them kept hawking loogies and spitting and generally being disgusting and inconsiderate.

Saturday

Woke up at a decent hour and I headed over to shower (which felt amazing!!) and Eric went to set the up EZ-Up over our kennels to be prepared for what was bound to be a hot, humid, sunny day. We loaded up the tent and the boys and drove over to the UAD side of the fairgrounds. It was really cool in the shade, so we parked the truck and left Midas in there to relax.

The Ultimate Vertical finals were first and were a lot of fun to watch. I don’t know a whole lot about the rules so it was a little confusing but still very enjoyable.

These are not the finalists, just some of my favorite shots:

Ooops, I lied, this is actually the winner, Flash, a Belgian Malinois with a 7′ jump:

He sure makes it look easy doesn’t he? Milt actually has a pup fathered by Flash, whom he named Nash. Here are some adorable photos of Nash with his sister Lisl:

After seeing these pups and the intelligence on their faces, and watching Flash perform, I think looking into the breed as a future potential is definitely required!

Everything was running an hour to an hour and a half later than the schedule so we decided to only compete Mason in the semi-finals and not Midas so that Eric would not have to drive like a maniac to make it to the football game in Ashland, Ohio.

Finally, the novice finals were starting. Mason jumped (all by himself again ) a whopping 4′3″ and 4′9″!!! I was thrilled - that’s two more feet in one day!! Yay, Mason!! Of course, I think he finished last in his group, but he was the youngest pup I heard announced, so we were still pleased. Also, he’s really starting to get the drive for the competition. As soon as I get him out of his kennel, he gets all riled up and starts lunging towards the pool. He couldn’t care less about any of the dogs/people around us, he just wants to get to the pool. Once up on the dock, he runs back and forth from the end to me and back again, shaking like crazy he’s so excited. Sometimes he even starts barking. I throw his toy while holding his collar, pull him back a bit and then release him. He sprints to the end of the dock, comes to a dead stop and then llleeeaaannnsss…and jumps! It’s so funny to watch! Milt, was announcing and said that with all the energy he showed on the dock, he had been expecting a 15′ jump hahaha. Good times anyway.

Here is the play-by-play:

Saturday Competition Jump #1

Raring to get out of the kennel and into the water again (he’s looking at me):

This is the lean, but I didn’t have to “help” him here

And he’s in!!

Saturday Competition Jump #2

The Leap/Fall

Going… 

Swimming for the toy:

Success!!!

I got to meet more people from the forum which was really neat.

This is Jillian, who previously I only ever talked to online and her gorgeous yellow Lab, Bailey:

And Jeff and Beth’s Tundra (so darn cute - and tiny! Also, much better extension than Mason, but 3 months older too):

And Sara and Carly - just to name a few:

I enjoy the events more and more when there are other dogs to watch and cheer on. It’s so much fun! I was really bummed that they didn’t have any shirts in my size again , oh well, I will keep waiting. I am still a little sad we missed the other semi-finals, even if we weren’t going to compete Midas as most of the people I know have dogs that compete in the upper division levels. Overall, can’t wait until the next event!!

On the way out, I convinced Eric to let me wander through the puppy tent and look at all the puppies for sale in their pens. I cannot resist puppies!!

The boys and I were tired out on the way home:

This morning we got up at 6 am to pack everything up to head to a DockDogs event at Cabela’s in Dundee, Michigan. I was really looking forward to this event because Mason would finally be old enough to compete, if he would go off during the practice period. I wasn’t feeling very well, very stuffy from my allergies and my face hurt because of sinuses. I took an allergy pill and was out for most of the trip.

We got to Cabela’s to see that the event was in the parking lot with some people parking on the lawn. I hurried over to ask if it would be alright if we also parked on the grass and was told that “no, you need a special DockDogs pass”…I must have looked confused because the guy laughed and told me to pick a spot and drive up over the curb. We went along the back and Eric hopped the curb and parked. I went over and got registered, received my wrist band and signed the waiver. Headed over to the truck where we unloaded the EZ-Up only to realize that sometime this weekend we had lost not one, but both of the boys’ leashes. Thank goodness that Cabela’s was right there. I ran inside and bought two 4 ft nylon leashes. The line for the practice was pretty long so I figured that we should hustle up or we might not get our practice jump in.

On the way over Midas was overexcited as usual and was pulling on the leash. I corrected him several times like I learned at obedience class but he would only be good for a couple of seconds at a time. I got into line behind an intact male black lab and ended up in front of a golden retriever. I felt a little crowded by both, so I am sure Midas did as well. I stepped to the side and the owner of the black lab was nice enough to do the same in the opposite direction. The black lab was staring at Midas and barking. This seemed to be getting him more worked up than usual so I body-blocked him (stood in front of him so that my body blocked his view) and he refocused on the water. Before that he had been making minimal noise, now he was doing his characteristic screaming. Every time a dog got to go up the ramp he would jump up and scream, wanting desperately to get into the water himself. I kept asking him to “look” at me, again, as I learned in obedience class and this was the first event we have ever been to that he actually obeyed. He calmed enough to look at me, which in turn quieted his screaming. Granted, this didn’t last very long, but at least he was trying and he was remembering all the hard work we’d done. I was quite pleased.

At Ultimate Air Dog events when I would chastise Midas for being loud (because it is a little embarrassing), I would be told that it was fine, let him scream, it was his way of showing his enthusiasm and excitement to get into the water. They said some of the best dogs were the loudest because they could hardly contain their excitement. At this DockDogs event I looked around and people were frowning at me, or just staring at Midas. I felt a little awkward but figured he would show them what he was about when it was our turn to jump. We moved up to second in line and I watched as a golden retriever almost pulled his owner off her feet in his haste to get up the steps to the dock. Thinking Midas would be likely to do the same thing, I tightened my grip on his collar and leash.

Next thing I know, the golden behind me is jumping up behind Midas and barking and bumped Midas’s back-end on the way. Midas whipped around barking and both dogs rose to go up on their hind legs, but before Midas could move forward I had him yanked around in front of me and sitting back down. He never bared his teeth and his hair was never raised off his back. I figured we would each just have to keep a closer eye on our dogs and prevent them from feeding their excitement off of each other. No big deal, you see dogs jumping and barking at every event.

I was wrong.

One of the guys working the event walked up to me (just me) and asked if I had a muzzle for Midas. I was so shocked I just stared with my mouth open. I replied that no, I didn’t have a muzzle for Midas as he has never done anything to deserve one. He said that Midas was out of control and would need a muzzle if we wanted to compete. I didn’t have one, so I started out of line back towards the truck and the kennels. On my way, I heard a lady talking about him. I stopped and listened as she told everyone standing around her that Midas was vicious and that she was worried about him coming off the dock and attacking people. She said to them (there were people with children standing nearby) that they should just look at him, he was obviously aggressive and would attack when he was loose coming out of the pool.

I was so shocked and upset that I didn’t say anything, just rushed past her and put Midas in his kennel. At this point, he knew something was wrong and was drooping, ears, head and tail down and quiet. I yelled to Eric and started to quickly pack everything up. It was apparent I couldn’t compete, I did not own a muzzle and I refused to put one on my dog because someone else wasn’t controlling their own dog. Regardless, it was harmless posturing on both dogs’ part, nothing serious in the least. Eric didn’t understand what was going on and as I was obviously upset (crying at this point) he tried to calm me down. The kid from DockDogs came back and told me that there was no reason for me to leave, that he had found me a muzzle. I told him that my dog was CGC certified, that it was ridiculous that I was being asked to muzzle him when the dog that had jumped on him was not being required to do the same (even though it had reacted in the same way as Midas had, rising on his hind legs). He said that he hadn’t seen that and that Midas was the one out of control. I told him there was no way I was getting back in line with a lady who did not know my dog (wearing a DockDogs shirt) was telling anyone that would listen that Midas was vicious and would attack people. I looked over towards her as I am saying this and there she is, frowning, mouth moving quickly and the entire group around her glancing my way. The guy stated that he could not control her and really, I didn’t have to feel forced to leave. Eric pointed out that she was at an event, wearing their shirt and that someone should say something to her since she was spouting lies. He said he couldn’t do anything, but really I didn’t have to leave. I said one more time that I had never been treated so badly, that I would not muzzle my dog, and I would not stay one more minute where that mean, spiteful, lying woman could bad-mouth us. We packed up and headed home.

I was crushed. We drove over two hours to get to that event and I had pre-registered and prepaid…only to turn around and drive home. I could tell Midas was upset he didn’t get to go swimming, but I was upset that not only did I not get to jump Midas, I also didn’t get to test Mason out. My whole morning was wasted because of an uncontrolled dog (which should not have turned into this big of an issue, these things happen, they are dogs) and a vindictive lady. Once home I removed myself from the members list on DockDogs.com. I deleted any events I had been planning to go to through them. I was so discouraged because of this situation that I initially told Eric to cancel the plans for Imlay City next weekend (the UAD Ultimate Air Games event). After talking it over with him and with my parents I have decided to go to that event after all. We have been to more UAD events than DD events. We were at the UAD Cherry Festival event, by far the largest we’ve ever been to and no one even hinted that they thought I should go home. I have only ever been treated with respect, helpfulness and friendliness when at any UAD event. I will of course continue to work on Midas’s over-stimulation at the sight of water and will from now on be more conscious, not only of what he is doing, but of what the dogs around me are doing too. I am extremely disappointed with the way that things have turned out, but I refuse to let one bad event ruin a sport that I’ve come to love every bit as much as my dog has.

Today was gorgeous out. Sunny and warm, I miss summer already. Anyway, Grandma Gray was really bummed that she was going to be unable to see the boys dock jump at any events this summer. So, we planned a trip to Hart Lake and the dock there to do an informal dock jumping event. It was an absolute blast! I am really apprehensive about using the Wubba as my throw item at the UAG because I’m not used to the feel and the weight of it, so I figured this would be a perfect time to practice.

This is my favorite photo:

Here’s an action shot:

Here’s an example of a horrendous throw…

See how his body is twisted? That is because I threw slightly too short and he tried to catch it while his body continued forward, this is bad. I can’t wait until I don’t have photos of bad throws every single time we practice/compete. *sigh* with practice I know…On the other hand Midas started to consistently catch it (if my throw was good) towards the end, showing that he remembers our land training. That was definitely exciting. I also know how to throw it so that the part he likes to catch (the tails) is towards him, making it easier and more fun for him. I was really excited to see how well he was doing with the catching Not so thrilled with how many bad throws I had though…

Mason has come so far in the last couple of weeks and I’m so proud of him. This was the second time he was asked to jump off of a dock and he had hardly any hesitation. The enthusiasm in his little body just makes me swell with pride. He jumps off (occasionally slides), swims back with tail wagging the entire time, and brings the Wubba right back to my hand before darting onto the dock again, no time for shaking the water off. It makes me smile just thinking about it. So far he does his best jumping when I run with him down the dock and then throw it. I would like to try throwing it, bringing him back and then releasing him but I think he would still hesitate. Anywho, here he is:

Waiting patiently for the word that it’s his turn

“Waiting” not-so-patiently He looks huge to me in this photo…

His first couple of attempts were definitely less than graceful - this looks like he banged himself against the side of the dock, but he didn’t

He finally got the hang of it - mostly

We decided to liven things up by letting them each go first and then be followed by the other one. When Mason went first he had to have at least a 15 ft head start or Midas would land on him. When Midas went first it made Mason brave enough to make an actual leap from the dock, instead of a shimmy or a slide. It was so much fun and we were all tired when we left. Grandma and Grandpa were thrilled they finally got to see what we were always talking about. Hopefully Mason will be this cooperative tomorrow and I’ll enter him in the DockDogs event.