Dock Jumping Competition

Well, we just got back from our first Dock Dogs competition. It was held in Concord, NC (Charlotte). I didn't realize it took 9 hours or so to get there from Atlanta. We took the scenic route, but I was too carsick to notice most of the time :-). The competition was held in a Bass Pro Shop parking lot. The dock is on a scaffle that is quite sturdy and the jump into an above ground pool. It can be quite a shock to dogs that have only jumped into ponds. Travis was a trooper though. He, of course, was the only greyhound, but he loves demonstrating things that greyhounds just don't do...... swimming and retrieving being 2 of them. His first jump was his best at 15.02 feet. I think he was getting a look all around as he took off, so it was his highest jump giving him the best distance. He was impatient waiting for his turn. Every dog that got to jump ahead of him got him squealing with excitement... he could hardly wait for his turn. We actually did find that the extra long dock made him jump flatter, so I eventually ended up using only half the dock. In the end he earned 1 senior leg (15.02 feet) and 3 junior legs with (13.01, 14.04, and 13.03). The strange things is that you have to get 5 jumps in your jump category to get a title. So if he jumps into the junior range 2 more times... he earns the junior title. But if he jumps if he earns more senior legs (which require that he jump further than junior) they don't count towards the junior title. Oh, well. Hopefully we will get him to one more competition.

02/17/2007 Footnote - Since then a 7/8ths greyhound has beaten all the records. He literally can't jump any further or he'd land outside the pool. It appears that people who compete coonhounds have started adding GHs to their hounds to increase speed. It appears that in some cases they are almost all GH now. I believe this greyhound was bred for water, so it was naturally did dock jumping too.