Cathy & Shammie and Kim & Katie are trying a new venue........

DOCK DOGS!!!!!!!

For more information go to www.dockdogs.com

Our fist Dock Dogs meet was June 29, 30 & July 1.  It was held in the huge parking lot of Gander Mountain, in
Sheffield Village, Ohio. The host club was Buckeye Dock Dogs, a new Dock Dogs club in our area, based in
Grafton, Ohio. We have been members of that club since it began earlier in the year.

We attended the meet with my friend Kim Reis, who is the owner of Wellington Equestrian Center (where I also teach).
We discovered that her Labradoodle Katie is a GREAT diving dog!  We also discovered that Shammie was pretty good too!
(To see more about Kim's doodles, go to www.justdoodledogs.com)

Here is the way the classes and judging goes: You enter the waves (classes) and in each wave, you get to take
two jumps. Your longest jump is recorded, and you are put in a level in accordance with the length of your jump.
In each wave, you have another chance to jump further and further.  Your longest jump overall is how you are ranked.

You are ranked and put into one of 5 groups, depending on how far you jump.

	Novice	0’ 1” – 9’ 11”
	Junior	10’ 0” -- 14’ 11”
	Senior	15’ 0” -- 19’ 11”
	Master	20’ 0” -- 22’ 11”
	Elite	23’ 0” ----24’ 11”

We had 1 wave on Friday, 2 waves on Saturday, and 1 wave on Sunday.  Kim and I both ended up in the Senior level!
Then everyone who has jumped in the entire meet is put in order of jump length, from longest jump to shortest jump.
The longest 12 automatically are entered in the Big Air pro finals, and the next 12 are in the Big Air amateur finals.
Kim and I both ended up being in the second group of 12 - the Big Air amateur finals!!
Not bad out of a field of approximately 70 dogs!

They also had a girl with a laser who was clocking the dog's speed. Katie was an amazing 25 miles
per hour, and Shammie clocked in at an unbelievable 27 miles an hour! And she got there in 40 feet!

So, the tension built, the crowd was rooting and screaming, and the announcer was hilarious!  After all the
Big Air amateur finalists ran, the 12 people were ranked by length of jump and the top 4 had to have a jump-off.
Kim and I both were in the top 4 jump offs!!!  Kim ended up being in 2nd place with a personal best
of 18' even, and Shammie and I ended up being in 3rd place, with a personal best jump of 16' 6"!!!!!!

Whooooeeee what a couple of great dogs!!!

And what's even more fun, they had us on channel 8 news on TV that night! I couldn't figure out how to
capture the video, so I videoed the TV with our camera!  It's not great, but what the heck, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7T_YL2qKKo

And here are a couple of newspaper articles about Kim/Katie and Cathy/Shammie:
http://www.chroniclet.com/
http://www.morningjournal.com/

To see lots of photos of Kim and Katie, go here:
http://www.nolanddogart.com/buckeyedd07katie/

To see lots of photos of Cathy & Shammie, go here:
http://www.nolanddogart.com/buckeyedd07shammie/

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Below are some great photos of Shammie and Katie Dock Diving.
(Click on thumbnails for a larger image)  

See Shammie's new Senior Title!

Look at Shammie FLY! (The end of the dock is in the lower right corner!) This is our newest picture from Millersburgh

Shammie, CATCH IT! Another picture from Millersburgh

 

	SHAMMIE, GO GO GO GO!!!!		Katie has good pop off of the dock!
	Shammie pushing off HARD, with her toy right in front of her!		Katie jumping right at the camera!
	She's AIRBORNE!!		She's really going for the toy!
	Stretching for the finish		Katie showing good form
	Swimming back to the ramp		Kim & Katie and Cathy & Shammie as they get their awards of 2nd and 3rd place!
	GOOD DOG!  Great jump!!	Photos by ©Cindy Noland	See a sequence collage of Shammie  jumping