Dock Jumping

Tomorrow is the second anniversary of Travis' passing. Time flies no matter what. I finally stripped his dock jumping videos from DVDs that originally came from tape. It is not super quality, but it is all I have. I usually try to edit videos for short attention spans (because I have one), but its my blog, that was my dog, and this is probably the only purebred greyhound most of you will ever see dock jumping. Travis is the only one I have ever seen..... how lucky am I that he was mine!Travis was not a spectacular dock jumper. His flat style did not carry him for a long distance, but it was hoot watching him get so excited for his turn. We had a great time! The record holder (at least at the time) was actually a greyhound/coonhound mix. His jumps reached 26 feet.

I was wondering the other day if Travis at age 12 would still be doing agility or not. I mentioned to Stephen that I probably would have retired him once Reagan and Riley were ready to compete. Stephen reminded me that I would not have adopted Riley if Travis were still alive. I do not think I would trade Riley for those two years (at least not today, tomorrow might be another story if she is bad :-). So things are working out, but I still miss him so much. Last year, I did a Memorial video for Travis. If you have not seen it, please check it out. I love how it turned out. Click Here.

Swimming Lessons

We took the greyhounds to the lake yesterday to swim. So far, Reagan does not show the natural swimming ability that Travis does. Or maybe she is just a little more grounded than he is. I remember when I was starting to throw the bumper in the lake just far enough to see if Travis would swim. He would sometimes go under water and he swam very awkwardly. Not much has changed, but at least now I know he can old his breath and he will surface soon. Occasionally there would be a tense moment for the humans on the shore, but Travis was never scared or deterred. He was always game. Reagan seems to prefer the feel of land under her feet.

Katie has always enjoyed cooling off in the water, but doesn't have any desire to swim for a toy. However, Katie would sell her soul for a cookie and she would swim to the far side of the world for one too. I like to swim her along the side the dock..... feeding her treats, of course. I thought that Reagan might follow suit with Katie leading the way, but she was not willing to go any deeper than chest level. That's ok, I have another idea to try. She doesn't have to be a dock jumper like Travis, but I would love for her to swim along the dock like Katie does.

Dock Jumping in Augusta

This weekend, Stephen and I took the dogs to Augusta, GA for a Dock Jumping competition. There was a big fishing tournament going on and dock dogs was a fun side show sort of thing. Our main goal was for Travis to finish his Junior Jumper title. He needed 2 more qualifying jumps and he actually gave us 5. His dock jumping isn't much to write home about. He only jumps around 13 feet where as some of the other dogs are jumping 20 or more feet. The world record is held by a 7/8ths greyhound & 1/8th coonhound mix - 28 feet, 10 inches. Absolutely, amazing. He is very greyhound like, but I do not know his story. The officials at this event said that Travis was the only purebred greyhound they had seen. So as always, its fun to show off the greyhound who likes to do it all. Travis really had a fun time. We did not practice at all last year and he was only able to swim a little last weekend. But he took right to it again. He couldn't wait to climb to the top of the dock for his turn.

We also camped close to this venue. Beautiful site right on the lake. We had a very nice flat spot for setting up the tent and for parking.

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.

More Dock Jumping

Just got back from another informative session with Roddy Reynolds at BearCreek Kennels up on Look Out Mountain. It is very helpful to get feedback from someone who has done dock jumping before. We always learn a lot. Travis is going really well. It will be interesting to see how he does with more space and better footing.

Dock Jumping

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.