Travis has had a busy summer. My boyfriend, Stephen, and I are working on a new sport….. Dock Jumping. I believe that Travis will be the first Greyhound to do this. We are practicing about 2 – 3 days a week on a 30 foot dock. He appears to be jumping around 18 feet. In competition, Travis will have a 40 foot dock. We are hoping that adding a stride to his take off helps to increase the distance of his jump. He seems quite thrilled with the new sport. He already was a big fan of swimming and retrieving his bumper from the water, but he really seems to love dock jumping and is quick to return for another jump. His orange, plastic bumper was his favorite toy, but we are using the dead fowl trainer for dock jumping and I think that it might be his new favorite. It resembles a dead duck and costing nearly $30 is, unfortunately, not designed for the hard mouthed Greyhound. Oh well, it is just one of the costs of doing dock diving.Due to time constraints, we are taking the fall season off from agility. I am studying and will be taking the Certified Financial Planner exam in November. I am disappointed that he did not qualify for the AKC Agility Nationals for 2004, but it really was a lot to ask for. He actually began his agility competition career in September 2003…… less than a year ago. He was able to earn his Novice titles, Open titles, Excellent titles, over 200 MACH points, and 2 of the 4 Double Qualifying scores needed to qualify. I am extremely happy with all he achieved in such a short period time.Recently, I have renewed interest in working him towards a CDX and I have started working with him again on that. He knows how to do all of the exercises and it seems silly to not follow through and give it a try. So much to do, I sure wish he was a few years younger.Lastly, Stephen and I started dating in April. Together we have 6 Greyhounds. Our girls have gotten along wonderfully, but our 2 boys always had some tension between them. About 2 weeks ago, Stacker took a cheap shot at Travis who was busy retrieving his bumper. That must have been the last straw for Travis because he let Stacker have it. It was tough for Stephen and me to break up the dog fight. Stephen was bitten and I was quite bruised. Stacker ended up with the most damage. He needed some stitches above one eye and stitches below the other eye. He also had a small fracture into the nasal cavity. Luckily, the vet was able to move the small sliver of bone and nothing more needed to be done. Travis' wounds are hardly worth mentioning. He had some scratches behind one ear and on his neck. Everyone has healed up nicely. Stephen and I are definitely handling the boys differently now when they are together. Stacker doesn’t appear to have learned his lesson. Luckily Travis is very tolerant. We just need to make sure we do not allow Stacker to push him beyond his limit.
