Medina, OH January 13, 2010: The first event of 2010 kicked off in the beautiful city of Denver, Colorado this past weekend and if it's a sneak peak at what this season has in store for us, it's sure to be another record breaking year!
Many might think that the freezing temperatures of Denver in early January would stop some people from coming out, but that was definitely not the case at the International Sportsmen's Expo. With over 50 brand new teams showing up to see what DockDogs was all about, the weekend was jam-packed with dogs jumping and people getting hooked on the sport.
Thursday brought out a handful of these new competitors, including local dog, Murfie and his handler Fred LaRoche, who in their very first competition wave ever, took 1st place in the Junior division with a jump over 10'! The day ended on a very exciting note, as Remy, a 2.5 year old Belgian Malinois, and his owner Jon Langdon of Sit Means Sit Dog Training, pulled out not one, not two, but THREE jumps of 27'!
The buzz from Remy's amazing leaps carried over into Friday, as even more new teams showed up, including a Bouvier des Flandres named Guido who worked the crowd every time he bounded onto the dock. Another new team to the dock was Amy Dickerson and her rescued Labrador, Tucker, who by the end of the weekend was jumping 12'! By the time our 4:00pm wave of competition started, the crowd was anxiously awaiting, as the amazing Remy was in line waiting to jump. Up until this point, the Big Air World Record for indoor events, was 27'3'', held by a longtime competitor, and here was this new team who had only been to two events at this point, nipping at his heels. When you thought the cheering couldn't get louder, Jon set Remy up for his jump and as soon as he released him, the crowd went wild! Remy must have fed off that energy, because a minute later, we get the announcement that this rookie dog just broke that record with an amazing jump of 27'4''!!
The exciting news must have traveled fast, as the line for new signups on Saturday was wrapped around the registration table even before the dock was open! We started off the day with a Speed Retrieve competition where it seemed to be yet again a battle of Malinois vs. Labrador, as Tessa and newbie, Hombre took on Jet and Remy. Remy managed to score the best time of the day with a 6.64 second run with Tessa right behind him in 2nd with a time of 6.93 seconds. Jet secured 3rd with a time just over 7 seconds and the first timer, chocolate Labrador, Hombre snagging fourth place on his first time ever doing it, with a 7.5 second run.
The first Big Air wave of the day was a battle of new dogs in the Novice division, but beating out 9 others, first timer, Keith Prince and his Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Moose, snagged first place with a respectable jump of 9'4''. This wave also brought out one of DockDogs veteran dogs, Gryphon, a 13 year old black Labrador and cancer survivor showed that senior dogs can still play with the pups, jumping out to 4'8'', as the crowd chanted his name to cheer him on.
Our last qualifying Big Air wave for Saturday was an exciting one, as our only Lap Dog of the entire weekend, Toby, a 3 year old Jack Russell Terrier from Strasburg, Colorado made his DockDogs debut with a first time jump of 2'10''! Taking the top place in that wave were our first timers, Art Stoner and his hunting partner, chocolate Labrador, Hombre with a leap of 19'9''.
Saturday's audience only grew as Extreme Vertical practice began. With eight teams signed up, it was sure to be a crowd pleaser. Battling out in the Cadet division were Goldendoodle, Charley Sprocket out of Lee's Summit, Missouri and chocolate Labrador, Ryder, from Las Vegas, NV. The happy-go-lucky Charley managed to work his way up to a 5'6'' attempt and secure a first place ribbon. That boom kept climbing as our Top Gun competitors tried their hardest at each height. Linda Hettich and her black Labrador, Tessa and David Smith with Jet, ended up in a tie for 3rd place at 6', while Remy and Tractor, a yellow Labrador from Las Vegas continued to climb. It was a very close competition as Tractor managed to successfully take down 6'6'' and claim the 1st place prize.
Sunday's only qualifying Big Air wave brought us our biggest turnout of the weekend. With each and every competitor wanting to make Finals, you could feel the excitement and anticipation as they lined up waiting for their final wave to begin. First timer, Ashley Morawski and her black Labrador Retriever, Blue, only had time for a few practice jumps before the wave began and they showed off Blue's natural ability with a huge jump of 16'9'', solidifying a place for them in the Amateur finals. The entire wave was jam-packed with big jumps and plenty of personal bests. Heather Ratynski concluded our wave guest handling the oh-so-loveable Charley Sprocket and not only put herself in the bubble for Finals, but helping Charley achieve his indoor personal best by a long shot with a huge leap of 18'5''!
Before we began our finals, our only young handler of the weekend, Kyle Jackson was able to showcase his skills by jumping the black Labrador mix, Kasey. Immediately following was our Speed Retrieve finals, which was certainly a nail biter, as going into the finals, the top three qualifiers were only separated by 3/100ths of a second! Remy once again showed he was the dog to beat achieving a personal best score of 6.521 seconds! Rounding out the top three was Jet in second place with a 6.837 and Tessa in third, with a 7.082.
Big Air Finals began with our biggest jumpers of the weekend. Pro finals began with people anxiously waiting to see if Remy would once again, break a record. Unfortunately, even though he did take first place jumping 26‘2'', his record from Friday would stick. However, Sit Means Sit trainer, David Smith with his Malinois, Jet, managed to bring his best jump of the weekend and overall personal best of 23' and take home 2nd place. Tractor jumped a respectable 20'8'' and came in 3rd.
Semi-Pro Finals were up next, and it was our one rookie, Hombre, up against four regular competitors. Each dog gave it their all and it was our California girl who not only had her best jump of the weekend, but grabbed first place with a huge jump of 22'4''! Hombre showed he was still a force to be reckoned with as he managed to also bring out his best jump of the weekend, a HUGE leap of 22'8''. Coming in third was the only Border Collie in Finals, showing she could hold her own, Mig and her owner Melissa Charity, with a jump of 18'5''.
Last up was our Amateur Finals, which consisted of 5 out of 8 competitors being brand new this weekend! It all came down to a matter of inches, but it was newbie Blue who dominated and landed himself in 1st place with a jump of 16'6''. Tracey Burlingame and her black Labrador mix, Kasey came in 2nd with a jump of 16', and completing our top three was another brand new team of Jeffrey Sullivan and his chocolate Labrador, Ruby leaping out to 15'4''.
Our Iron Dog was a close competition, but once again, the Arvada team of Remy and Jon Langdon walked away with first place. Close behind was Lisa Weber and Tractor in 2nd with David Smith and Jet, coming in 3rd.
It was DockDogs inaugural event for the ISE series, and thanks to all of our new DockDogs teams that came out to try out DockDogs as well as our long time competitors who traveled far distances to support us, it was a huge success! The staff of DockDogs wants to thank our sponsor, Royal Canin, the International Sportsmen's Expo for having us, and finally the Rocky Mountain DockDogs club for coming out to grow the sport. We look forward to returning to the ‘Mile High' city next year!
DockDogs® is the independent governing and sanctioning body for regional, national and international dock jumping performance sports. DockDogs® establishes the rules and standards of the sport, tracks results and records and supports and promotes the growth of its athletes, events, spectators, and sponsors.
For additional information visit www.dockdogs.com
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