i had no idea what to expect last weekend in costa mesa, ca - for the oc pet expo. he only did two competitions last year, with his personal best (and only one jump close to this) of 20′11”. we attempted a dock dogs event early february, and it was a bust. that’s putting it politely too. he jumped maybe 13′-14′ that weekend and did NOT have fun.
needless to say, i was interested to see how he did. well, we arrived late (due to lovely so cal traffic!) to the event, and it was H-O-T, so we immediately went in line, so he could just get IN the pool. no expectations at all, i wouldn’t even have cared if he jumped, as long as he got in that water.. it was scorching!
well, i could immediately tell.. as soon as he left the dock - we were in for a good day! the s-t-r-e-e-e-e-t-c-h that he had off the dock was like none of his other competitions! i began to get giddy. i’m sure he could feed off my excitement, and that was the ONLY jump we got in before his first wave.
well, his first competition jump - he slipped going off the end, luckily was not hurt.. but it cost him, in his distance.. BUT, even WITH that slip, he cleared 18′! more giddiness… his second jump of that wave.. he FLEW off the end of the dock, hop and all - and got 20′11”! that matched his personal best!! i was SO happy, we ran away from the dock, with him jumping up at me with excitement.
we only entered two waves that day, so the next wave - wasn’t for about another hour or so.. so we sat and waited. another thing changing with him, is he actually was starting to get antsy/whining while in line. he was ANXIOUS to do it!! (for those that know us.. they know this is a GOOD thing for us!) his next jump came up.. he broke his stay and i had to walk back and reset him… who’d have known that would be the start to his BEST jump ever!!!
he went FLYING off the end of the dock, and despite my VERY high throws.. he landed a 21′11”!!! A WHOLE FOOT BETTER than his personal best! needless to say, he scored himself a BUNCH of goodies after that jump! we could not have asked for a better weekend. he got a 1st place in the pro division and a 2nd place in the pro division. after that event, we had our 2nd and 3rd legs of his pro title, and i hope at our next event in may - he can get the 4th and 5th legs.. so he can officially move up from a SENIOR splash dog.. to a PRO splash dog!
we have a TON of events coming up.. but not for a few weeks. our next event is memorial day weekend. we are doing a splash dogs event on friday, then driving about an hour closer to home and going to an agility trial on saturday! we’ll come home saturday night - and rest up.. because a few days later, we’ll be beginning our road trip to chicago!! while we are there, we have a BUNCH of events, including a huge dock dogs event.. as well as two agility events AND a huge lab fest. it will be quite the trip!
just wanted to share in the excitement - there are a ton of pictures up on our phanfare, some on the lab board.. and a video on youtube. be sure to check them out!
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