[Box4Rox]

Hey all you EOC dog lovers . . .

Thought you might like to know the 2009 Nationals is coming up next month in Mason, Ohio. . . Great opportunity to see the best of the best compete

Come on out and watch for free . . .

(jea - you're only 60 miles away !!)

Qualifiers all day Friday and Saturday with the Finals on Sunday. Cabelas, Royal Canin and Dock Dogs have the entire resort booked - FOUR DOCKS going at the same time !!! Non-stop action and hundreds and hundreds of dogs from all across the country will be there to crown the champs.

:arrow: http://www.kingsislandresort.com/events.html

:arrow: http://www.dockdogs.com/

Obi-Wan the Black Lab worked his tail off this summer, earned a National Seniors title (Whoo-Hoo ! ) and is part of a DD team from Northern Illinois (ChicagoLand Dock Dogs) headed to the showdown. WE ARE EXCITED !!! ;-) (and nervous !)

 

[cai88]

Let's go Obi!! Make us proud!

 

[_jea_]

Oh man, this is huge!!! I always complain there is nothing going on here (OK 2008 International EOC meet was here). Obi, I hope the weather holds and I am 99% sure I will drive down to Mason. Would love to see all of these champs live!!!

Box4Rox, thanks for the heads up!

 

[ORANGEE]

You all can stop by my old house in MASON and do donuts on the lawn !!!!

 

[hiker chick]

Obi is 4 1/2 years old and won a "seniors" title?

Gidget's 7 and not admitting to senior anything. She's her mama's girl. ;-)

The Cabela's Dog Dog Championship -- that is a big deal!!

Congrats and good luck!!

 

[Box4Rox]

Obi is 4 1/2 years old and won a "seniors" title?

Gidget's 7 and not admitting to senior anything. She's her mama's girl. ;-)

The Cabela's Dog Dog Championship -- that is a big deal!!

Congrats and good luck!!

"Senior" is a division based on jumping distance; at age 8 they are tagged with a "veterans" status and there is a separate finals for just the veteran dogs that competed in the regular division qualifiers.

Divisions break down like this . . .

Divisions / Titles Jump Distance Range

Novice 0’1” – 9’ 11”
Junior 10’0” -- 14’ 11”
Senior 15’0” -- 19’ 11”
Master 20’0” -- 22’ 11”
Elite 23’0” ----24’11”
Super Elite 25’ and above

In order to make the finals at just about any event, you usually have to jump "out of your division" to the next level, which in our case would be Master level jumps of 21 ft or so.

We're signed up for both Senior and Master level qualifying jumps on Friday and Saturday as he jumps fairly consistently in the 20 ft range.

Competition at the Nationals will be fierce as most teams know they need to be jumping further than normal to make the finals. :???:

Obi likes older women . . . I'll pm Gidget his chip #. ;-)

 

[hiker chick]

Obi likes older women . . . I'll pm Gidget his chip #. ;-)

And Gidget adores black labs.

20 feet is hard to imagine. It's the length of the room I'm sitting in.

Wow.


:-o

 

[Twilightzero]

Wish I was closer, I'd love to see Old Man Obi jumpin'! :lol:

 

[_jea_]

Box4Rox, how does one without a "dockdog" enter the event?

I might register my dog (ha, ha, ha) but might need to throw him in the pool

 

[Box4Rox]

Box4Rox, how does one without a "dockdog" enter the event?

I might register my dog (ha, ha, ha) but might need to throw him in the pool

Sorry . . . you can't throw them in, it's against the rules (seriously . . . they must leave the dock of their own free will)

It helps to have a "Renegade" dog willing to live dangerously and break all the rules

 

[BurnoutX]

that's awesome! just awesome!

 

[_jea_]

Sorry . . . you can't throw them in, it's against the rules (seriously . . . they must leave the dock of their own free will)

It helps to have a "Renegade" dog willing to live dangerously and break all the rules

The one and only time he went in the lake was because at his age he was not able to see the pier was over :-(

The first question was serious though. Do I need tickets to see the event that I can purchase there?

 

[Box4Rox]

Jea -

There is no admission fee for the general public for this event but you may want to bring a folding chair as I’m not sure what the bleacher situation will be. There will be concession stands selling drinks and burgers and such (I’m sure the dogs will love that smell : ) )

If you go here:

:arrow: http://www.dockdogs.com/09_DockDogs_Info_Kit.pdf


And get the “info kit” .pdf you’ll see a schedule of events for Fri, Sat, Sun and a layout showing the pools, “dog town”, parking, etc.


We’re scheduled to jump twice on both Friday and Saturday in the Seniors and Masters divisions qualifiers but the best day would probably be Sunday for the finals . . . with only the top 8 dogs left standing for each division it will go quickly (compared to the hundreds and hundreds on the first two days).

Be sure to try and see the “Lap Dog” finals; watching the little guys shoot it out is really a blast. They have professional announcers calling the whole event for every dog at each dock . . . it really is a lot of fun. :smile:

I'll pm you my phone # so if you do decide to come, we can meet-up and Obi can say "hi !" ;-)

 

[Box4Rox]

We attended "Southern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days" down in Carterville, Illinois this past weekend for a "practice" event and guess what . . .

A Funny Looking Square Car !!

(that's my green Ez-Up in the background)

I'm not sure if this person was competing in Dock Dogs or one of the other events (field retrieves, agility, etc) but I never got to meet them and ask if they were EOC :-(

Also, there were lots and lots of booths and exhibits from every turkey-call, cross-bow, shot-gun, fishing-pole, camo-making vendor you could imagine. Did you know Ford makes a "camo" version of the F-150 pick-up ? I didn't . . . and speaking of Camo . . . . look at this !! It was the exhibit directly adjacent to the Dock-Dogs . . . A CAMO ENCASED 1300 lb LIVE GRIZZLY BEAR :???:

Who on earth thought putting a really big bear 50 ft away from 100 jumping dogs was a good idea ?

He was in an air conditioned traveling "cage-on-wheels" (why the bars are painted "camo" is beyond me . . . ) I felt really sorry for this poor bear and would have busted him out except there were a lot of wild and crazy, wet, hyper-active Labradors around and it probably wouldn't have turned out so well.

I thought constantly about HikerChick and her Bear Spray arsenal while observing this HUGE bear . . .

 

[hiker chick]

That photo of the grizzly in the cage makes me sad.

That's just wrong.

I'd want to turn my bear spray on his keeper.


:-(

 

[Box4Rox]

Here's the results from the "Fishing days" event . . . this gives you a pretty good idea of how the Qualifying waves go on the first day and then feed into the finals at the end . . .

:arrow:http://www.dockdogs.com/results/09_SIllinoisHunting&Fishing_Results.pdf

Lots of results here !!

:arrow: http://www.dockdogs.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=314


ANYBODY can do this . . . big/little, young/old. Don't be shy about looking up a regional event in your area and signing up . . . you'll never know unless you try !!

 

[Box4Rox]

That photo of the grizzly in the cage makes me sad.

That's just wrong.

I'd want to turn my bear spray on his keeper.


:-(

I agree 200 % . . . if it is any consolation, he has a pretty big "compound" to call home when not on tour ( I asked and saw photos). Most of the crowd was glued to the dogs and paid little attention to the "keepers" bear speeches. Guy also claimed he was an orphaned cub . . . don't know how hard they tried to re-locate him to his natural surroundings . . . he's about 10 years old.

EDIT !!! - HC, you can rent "Grizzly Man" and pretend the dufus , Bear-Biologist-Wannabe is the keeper and all will be well !

(and for the record, the bear is actually a Kodiak bear . . . a close cousin to the Grizzly . . . Grizzly had more "pizazz" for the post so I thought . . . "what the heck" )

 

[LMntGuy1982]

Awww man!! I love dockdogs. I think my Grace would make a great dockdog. Except she is scared to death of water. She's fast and all muscle. But Charlie I think would be good. He's a 9 month old Dalmatian and is very bouncy. I bet he'd be good. I just don't know of anywhere to practice. Hell he's never even been in water other than the bathtub.

 

[Box4Rox]

Awww man!! I love dockdogs. I think my Grace would make a great dockdog. Except she is scared to death of water. She's fast and all muscle. But Charlie I think would be good. He's a 9 month old Dalmatian and is very bouncy. I bet he'd be good. I just don't know of anywhere to practice. Hell he's never even been in water other than the bathtub.

Haha - how funny ! Mine (yes the dog in the pic above) hates the bathtub and being sprayed by the hose I have to pick him up to get him in the tub . . . (like after the time he rolled on a 15 lb decomposing dead carp down by the river . . .:-( )

Dalmatians do pretty well . . . one of the techniques that works well is to walk new dogs down the exit ramp and into the pool and then toss their "toy" (the object you throw that they must retrieve in order for the jump to count) half way out and have them swim out to get it.

Mine started swimming by "surfing" at the beach and then eventually walking out far enough to have to start swimming. His first jump was a level jump into an in-ground pool.

Starting them out young is the best . . . 9 months is perfect.

You have two very good clubs right there near St. Louis that have practices going all the time . . . Heartland Dock Dogs (they were the club that hosted the Carterville event) and Gateway Dock Dogs. Both clubs were signing up new members from the spectators at the last event . . . if you created a log-in at the dockdogs.com forum and posted in both their club areas asking for info, I know they would respond. The upcoming Nationals finishes off the 2009 season and things get quiet (especially in the colder climates) until next Spring. Some clubs do go year round . . . just depends on the weather.

 

[gisele]

It was the exhibit directly adjacent to the Dock-Dogs . . . A CAMO ENCASED 1300 lb LIVE GRIZZLY BEAR :???:

Who on earth thought putting a really big bear 50 ft away from 100 jumping dogs was a good idea ?

He was in an air conditioned traveling "cage-on-wheels" (why the bars are painted "camo" is beyond me . . . ) I felt really sorry for this poor bear and would have busted him out except there were a lot of wild and crazy, wet, hyper-active Labradors around and it probably wouldn't have turned out so well.

I thought constantly about HikerChick and her Bear Spray arsenal while observing this HUGE bear . . .

Poor bear :-( :-(

--------------------

Good luck at Dock Dogs Obi!!!

-g