Today we got up bright and early and packed up the boys to head to Kalamazoo for another UAD event. We thought about bringing Kya, discussed it, and decided she’s making such good progress we don’t want to set her back…thank goodness we didn’t bring her. Neither of us had any idea that the event was going to be as insanely large as it was! There were hundreds of dogs, all breeds, all genders, all sexes, everywhere. It was insane.

We quickly scoped out a spot and set up our EZ-Up and the boys’ kennels and registered. It was a gorgeous day out, bright and sunny (lovely after the predictions of rain). We registered for both splashes and I did a couple of practice jumps with each of them. Even Midas jumped right off the end with no hesitation (and no distance lol).

Saturday Splash #1

Mason jumped in the first group and got 6′1″.

And 7′10″.

Midas was in a later group and got 6′.

And 9′1″ - woohoo he’s finally breaking 9′ lol.

Then we had a little break before our second Splash. During which time I lounged by the boys and Eric took photos of the gazillion dogs roaming around.

Saturday Splash #2

Mason jumped before Midas again and got for his first jump 7′4″:

And for his second jump 6′9″:

While Midas and I waited our turn we did a little pacing (to keep his mouth toned down to a low-level whine vs full-throated, banshee screaming) and had several dogs jump on/in his direction and one growl at him. Ugh.

He jumped for his first jump in the second Splash 6′9″:

And for his second jump 9′10″!!!!!

Here I am trying to snap his prong back in place to bring him back to the crate so he doesn’t go barreling back up the dock for his “turn” lol.

They both made it into the Novice finals, Midas as first and Mason as fourth.

Midas jumped first and only reached 7′4″ and 7′5″ .

Then the little dude, he got 5′8″:

…and 7′10″, beating Midas by 5″…

They ended up with 3rd and 4th place in Novice.

The event was a good time, we met some people we had only known through the forum:

Celebrated a birthday:

And saw some friends:

Along with some other events:

Good times, as usual, with the UAD family The rest of the photos are here.

Eric really wanted to go to the UAD event in Ohio, even though it meant getting up at 3 am, leaving at roughly 4:15 am and driving straight there and then after the event driving straight back, arriving home at midnight…and having to go to work/school in the morning. Was it worth it? Totally!

We entered both boys into the one splash on Sunday. I figured if Midas didn’t go in during practice, then I would yank him afterwards. But, they both went in!

Mason was in the third group for the Splash. I decided to try a new technique. So, I held onto his collar, threw the toy and then shimmied backwards on the dock with him, allowing him to keep the toy in sight the entire time. It worked great! He jumped 9′8″ - a foot longer than his Personal Best!

Which rounded out his United Novice Jumper title so now he’s Livvy’s Silver Mason, UNJ. How neat is that!?

He then jumped 8′4″ for his second turn, he went off a little crooked and stutter-stepped a little.

Which put him solidly in the finals!!!

Midas was at the end of the 4th group and he wasn’t jumping far at all, I’m just excited he went in…5′5″.

I made a huge exciting deal about him going in, hoping it would excite him for his next jump. A whopping 6′8″. There were some that made it to the finals that weren’t there so Midas got bumped into the bubble.

There were only three dogs total in the Novice finals. I had to run around like a crazy girl trying to get my two up in the order they were supposed to - for two jumps lol.

I jumped Midas first:

Then I jumped Mason, who got 9′9″ - a new Personal Best!!!!

Next, Midas was up again

…and then Mason…

Mason ended up getting first!!! Yay little dude! Midas got second, which means that Mason beat him by a full 3 feet! They each won a new Wubba for getting first and second in their division from Barb and Rock who are sponsored by Kong.

Eric took LOADS of fantastic photos of other dogs, here are a few of my favorites:

Actually there were MANY more, which can be viewed here. Good (tiring) times!

SATURDAY

This was our first event right here in GR and we were psyched. Some members of Midas’s agility class were planning on coming, some of my classmates and family from both sides were coming. I had entered the boys in both splashes for Saturday - one at 10 and one at 2:30. We kenneled the boys and I decided to wait in line to practice Mason first since he can handle waiting in line.

I had him in a sit/stay on the dock….

(all un-watermarked photos are courtesy of Paul Gray)

and he kept creeping forward…

I kept creeping back and:

Yeah, I fell in the pool. In front of an entire crowd. If you notice in the photo you can see one lady covering her mouth in a gasp, most people laughing…and Mason worried and wondering what in the world I’m doing in the water - with his toy! The water was FRIGID, I sank to the bottom in shock before coming up and then I had to jump Mason in my sopping-wet clothes…

It was embarrassing, but what can you do but laugh?? When I got off the dock I had several amazingly nice people offer me clothes (LOVE the UAD family!) - and UAD gave me a free shirt. So, I rushed into the bathroom to change and when I came out, Midas was being announced! He hadn’t even gotten to practice. So, I rushed up onto the dock with him (thankfully he has a strong sit/stay - no backing off the dock this time):

He refused to jump! My water-loving, 18′ jumper just refused to go off the dock. Both times!

I tried to pep-talk:

To demand:

Milt even tried to encourage him to jump:

To no avail, so we gave up and I pulled him from the 2:30 splash. We obviously have some work to do….

Mason on the other hand, is my little dog who is all heart! He is such a joy to work with at these events! After my fall-in-the-pool mishap, I asked my little cousin, Paige, to come up on the dock and be my handler for Mason.

Here we are waiting in line (Mason’s trying to sneak behind my back and grab the Wubba):

Then he hops up and down, trying to get my attention:

He is overall so dang good waiting in line though! He’s fairly quiet (he only barks if I ask him), he completely ignores the other dogs and people in line - even when they’re being inappropriate with him. He’s just such a focused little dude.

Then we get on the dock. He’s pumped, he’s barking and running and jumping - and I’m encouraging it. I place him in a sit/stay and have Paige hold him (no more backing off the dock for me!).

I love this photo, they’re so focused on me and just waiting for the release word!

He had a little trouble finding the exit ramp, he’s accustomed to it being on the other side, but he caught on:

Then we do it all over again:

The exit ramp didn’t have the AstroTurf on it so it was a tad slippery, I had to help him up the last little bit:

He’s so funny. If I hand his toy to him, he will take it, then drop it at my feet, then pick it up, and drop it again. If he actually retrieves the toy, he will hang on to it until I tell him he has to drop it:

He hangs onto that Wubba out of the water, down the stairs, around and into his kennel . He also doesn’t remember to shake unless I tell him to. He’s so driven - I love it!

This photo pretty much wraps up Saturday:

Mason ended up just outside the Novice bracket with his finishing jump being 6′4″ - that’s TWO feet onto his old Personal Best!

SUNDAY

We decided to bring Mason to finals today just in case a couple of other dogs dropped - he would then be in. When we got there, Sara informed us that Milt was allowing anyone that showed up and wanted to jump, to jump in the finals. Then so many dogs dropped that Mason ended up being in 4th anyway. Since he was the shortest jumper, he was the first to jump in finals.

None of my family came so it was all Eric taking photos:

Lynn held him for me and apparently she was whispering some big-jumping encouragement to him because he jumped…8 FEET 8 INCHES!!!! I was so psyched!

His second jump he slipped going off the dock, but it was still 5′6″ - better than he’s ever done before:

He ended up placing THIRD! The two dogs he lost to also jumped completely out of Novice division - so technically he got first . He just did such a great job and I’m so dang proud of him! He’s all heart! When we got home he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, let alone hold his head up .

This weekend we had an event in Novi through UAD that we entered both the boys in. It was the first time they’ve jumped in 6 months, their first indoor event and the first event of the year. We’d heard a lot of horror stories about lack of space and dogs refusing to jump because of the noise/lights/water temperatures. But, we figured there’d be no problem.

We were wrong.

Well, in part. The space thing: it was jam-packed but we found a spot to put both of our new soft-sided crates (bought especially for this event) and sit down. It was a busy place with a lot of noise but the boys didn’t seem anything but excited.

Mason was in the second group of dogs and Midas in the fourth, for the first Splash. He was extremely excited and seemed to remember what the dock was all about. He had complete focus on me. We tried the sit/stay but his little silver butt kept scooting forward on the dock he was so excited. I finally just held him, tossed and then sent him. He jumped just like he did last year…

3′3″ and 4′6″ But he loves it!

He placed 14th in the Novice division . Such a cutie!

Midas didn’t seem to remember anything. He got up on the dock all excited, ran…and slid to a stop. I tried to re-place and re-send him, nothing. Still hanging over the edge like an amateur.

I thought he might do better after he warmed up, but nope. He was the same through the whole event. Milt did comment on his great form but it would’ve been a lot more impressive with a run and jump, instead of a stand-still jump. Oh well, practice makes perfect. The crowd loved it. They laughed when he lurched to a stop and cheered when he finally went off. I had more trouble getting him to jump than I did Mason.

He jumped 7′7″ both times.

He did make it to finals, in Novice (Mason’s division and two whole divisions lower than he normally jumps). I felt guilty for bringing him to jump in finals, like we were tricking the system. But, we weren’t and it’s two legs towards his UKC title so…he got 2nd!! He jumped 8′9″ the first time and 9′3″ the second. First place ended up with a 9′9″ jump so it was pretty close.

This was his winning jump lol :

We had a LOT of fun though. It was lovely seeing everyone again and we got some good laughs…

Moose falling off the dock

There were some BIG jumping dogs there and it was really exciting to see them beat their PBs and see their owners SO thrilled. The rest of the photos are here. I can’t wait for the Grand Rapids event coming up!!

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 weekend was the Ionia Free Fair in Ionia, Michigan. I had pre-registered Midas for one splash on Friday and one on Saturday. Due to a cherry mishap whose details you can read about here , Midas was not feeling well enough to compete on Friday.

Saturday

Up bright and early and see that Midas seems to be feeling pretty close to his normal self. Thank goodness!! Pack everything up (which is WAY easier with the soft-sided kennels) and head out. When we get there, there is no one there. Ok, there are people, but not many, maybe 15-20 total. Unload, set up the EZ-Up (I pinch my fingers TWICE during this) and kennel the boys. Register and find out the reason why there is no one there. There is another event being run by UAD somewhere else, which Milt is at, with all the toys/shirts (which was a real bummer because I wanted to buy one of each) and the fair hasn’t even opened yet.

Practice jumps went fairly well. Midas’s attention span is pretty limited. I haven’t had time to practice with him on The Chase technique at home so that was completely lacking on the dock. He was just jumping. Honestly though, I was so thrilled that he was feeling up to it after the cherry/rubbing alcohol ordeal that it didn’t matter. During competition his farthest jump was only 17′, which ended up being about 9th place in the senior division out of 15 dogs. Not too spectacular, but I don’t think he was quite 100% yet, and I also did not time my throws the best (again). I need to practice my technique at home! We stayed to watch Catch-It, which was really entertaining. Eric got some fantastic photos of that. But, I’m not posting any links to them until we get the rest of the site up and running .

Since we had a bunch of time to kill before we had to leave we decided to try Mason off the dock during practice again. It had been a month since the last time we had attempted and he’s now confident enough to jump out of the truck, both from the backseat and from the tailgate so he’s definitely getting braver. Eric had asked early in the week if it would be ok with me if he was the one to compete Mason. I had said that was fine but I would really prefer it if we could both compete both of the boys. If they would respond to both of us and if both of our throws were decent. Anwho, I told him to go ahead and see if he could get Mason to go off the dock (he went off the exit ramp with absolutely no hesitation again), but Eric was too nervous so I went up. Mason was SO CLOSE, he was hanging off the edge, but just not quite brave enough yet. I think we’ll try him off a lower dock for awhile before asking him to go off regulation again. He did run right up the exit ramp and dive into the pool to get the tug though . He’s so cute and enthusiastic!

Eric worked up to taking Midas off the dock during practice. This was Eric’s very first time ever jumping Midas. We had a couple of false starts and one refusal but he got him to go and it was near 18′ so he did really well. Proud of both of them!

Wiley was there (the adult silver from the DockDogs event in Battle Creek) with his family. I am completely in love with their toddler, he is the cutest baby I have ever seen. Mason thought he would stand up to Wiley with a little lip curl, but when Wiley sniffed him a little more he rolled right over onto his back. Silly puppy. We have video of Mason trying the dock out, Eric jumping Midas and Mason meeting Wiley and hopefully will be able to post those on here soon too. Until then, here’s some of Midas’s jumps:

While the soft-sided kennels were super easy to haul and set-up. The boys didn’t take to them as well as I thought they were going to. They were fine if they were both in them. But as soon as one was out, the other was not good. Mason would lunge into the mesh sides of his every time we went to put Midas back into his kennel, he was trying to reach him through the walls. Mason also insisted on lying in the seams and making one side lopsided while doing so. Midas learned that if he tucked his head under, pushed it into the door and started walking he could roll the kennel (like a hamster wheel), wherever he wanted to go. We came back from trying to get Mason to jump to find Midas half way to the dock, kennel upside down and some extremely nice lady trying to stop him. So…we’re going to have to get tie-downs for them and something to put on the floor to prevent them from rolling them.

We traveled up to the Traverse City Cherry Festival this weekend for another Ultimate Air Dog event. We camped out in my parents’ friends’ side yard. It was fun.

Friday. We got to Interlochen late so we had to hurry to TC to get there in time for registration/practice. There was an insanely long line of dogs waiting for a practice jump. We got up there twice and it went really well. Midas was revved and he finally has caught on to our “The Chase” training. I am so excited! He’s finally, finally going for the bumper like he’s supposed to. His jump: 18′3″!!! That’s a new personal best! AND he jumped a foot early - so really it was 19′3″. My fault for setting him up in the wrong spot, don’t have that down pat yet. But, overall it was great. Then that night Midas cut his paw pad on something and it was bleeding like crazy. My dad doctored it all up though, some baking soda to stop the bleeding after it was cleaned up and then super glue to top it off - worked like a charm.

He only wore that for 20 minutes, until we were sure the bleeding had stopped. He was so good, never even nibbled on it.

Saturday. It was chilly, it rained and it was windy. Midas was in a mood and jumped horrible, which complemented my horrible throws. Yeah, we did bad. I was crabby after he tried to lunge up onto the dock when it wasn’t his turn and he tore open one of my toes…I’m buying Crocs now for dock-jumping. His longest jump was a measly 15′8″ which was a complete disappointment after the excitement from the day before.

Some photos of my truly horrendous throws:

Those were almost too embarrassing to post. Oh well, we are both still learning. Practice makes perfect.

Other dogs were awesome and fun to watch. There were some amazing Labs and Border Collies with such intense concentration it was scary. Then of course all the usual people that do amazing: Rajah, Oskar etc etc We got to help out with the medals. That was fun. I like to feel useful and I love to help out, especially at places that I am involved in anyway. It was a good time. I prefer events with a little less people though.

Yesterday was our first official dock jumping event ever. It was an Ultimate Air Dogs event at the United Kennel Club venue in Kalamazoo. We were up pretty early in the morning to pack up. I had a list of all the things I was worried we would forget at the last moment. Not to worry, we made it and we had everything. Luckily there was parking really close to the pool and registration tent so we parked and unloaded the kennels and the boys. I talked to Milt, who I think might be one of the nicest men I have ever met. He’s just great. Very personable and helpful. He’s loud and friendly. Completely the type of person that makes me feel at ease.

Midas’s First Time In. After I told Milt it would be Midas’s first time into the pool, he told me to bring him on up and we would practice getting him in off the practice dock. Midas went up fine, got to the top fine, on the downward ramp he froze and was blatantly thinking “No Way!”. With a lot of coaxing, calling and some dragging/pushing, we got him into the water. The brought him up onto the dock. I tossed his bumper in only about 6 ft out and he wobbled a little, unsure if he should jump and then flew right in. The hard part is over. He struggled getting up the narrow exit ramp and then we raced right up onto the dock again. This time he jumped right off after it, no problem. After several practice jumps we called it quits so that other newbie’s could have their turn before the first splash.

Competition Jumps. I wasn’t too nervous waiting in line for our turn, I figured if I could get him to jump at all I would be happy. When it was our turn, I brought him up, placed him into his sit/stay (which he held beautifully even with all the distractions) and released. He had slight hesitation at the end of the dock but jumped for a whopping 12′9″!! After watching many dogs refuse to go in I was ecstatic that he jumped so far! Our second competition jump he only got 8′1″. There was a major pause at the end and a belly flop of a jump. Oh well, at least he did it and he had a good time. He had a bit of a struggle getting up the exit ramp but finally made it - and thought he got to go again, he made a dash for the stairs to the dock . At least I know he’s having a good time!

Catch It. We hung around after our splash to watch the Catch It event. It was pretty cool. The dog has to jump as far as it can, AND catch the object the trainer is throwing before he hits the water. Rajah, the brindle American Pit Bull Terrier won. He’s a lot of fun to watch, incredibly athletic. I think this is something Midas could maybe do eventually.

Mason’s First Time in the Pool. Puppies have to be 6 months old to compete. Mason is barely reaching 4. But I figured the earlier the better to get used to the surroundings, the atmosphere, the people, dogs, and the water and the ramp. With some assistance we got Mason up on the top of the ramp (he wobbled going up the end puppy enthusiasm and klutziness) and going toward the water. He stalled momentarily, until he saw that I was holding the bumper in the water, then he just plowed right into the pool! It was so great! I think he would go anywhere for that bumper. Definitely a future dock jumper here. Eric thinks he would jump off the dock now, but it’s also tall and he’s scared to jump out of the truck yet.

Other People and Their Dogs. I met a ton of people that up until now I had only read about, read posts of and “talked to” on the forum. I met Sara, who is the one I emailed to get my registration to go through online. She has a beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer named Oskar, a Weimaraner, and an Australian Cattle Dog named Carly. I met Milt’s dog who was running around off-leash, Sparky - he has fantastic training. He even knows how to jump up the side of the pool, and balance while looking in. I met Jeff, Rajah’s owner and saw his wife Beth who jumps their GSP, Moose. I also met MaraLee the (official?) secretary and organizing wonder of UAD and her daughter Lynnie. Lynnie jumped a fox red lab named Lucy. There was a girl there (whose name I didn’t catch), who was jumping a 6 month old Golden Retriever named Powder. He was so darn cute, he did pretty well too. It was impressive. There were a lot of beautiful dogs running around (attached to owners) because of the dog show. Everyone was extremely nice and friendly and I had so much fun. I bought a UAD shirt and a new bumper with tugs on either side (which I am sure Mason will absolutely love). I am completely and totally hooked and can’t wait for the next event.