Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Posted on May 11, 2013 by TheLittleGSP

It’s Bailey’s 6th birthday today! I think a photo montage of my four-legged best friend is in order, don’t you?

Here are some of Bailey’s most memorable moments since her fifth birthday:

Qualified for Worlds at the DockDogs Eastern Regional Championships (July 2012)
Won Big Air and Extreme Vertical at the Monmouth County Fair (July 2012)
Diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease (August 2012)
Won Big Air and placed second place in Extreme Vertical at the Dover Summer Splash (August 2012)
Won Big Air at the Ocean County Decoy & Gunning Show (September 2012)
Competed at the DockDogs World Championships (November 2012)

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

Posted on April 22, 2013 by TheLittleGSP

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “Up.” As you may have noticed, I love to use photos of Bailey whenever possible in these challenges and it just so happens that jumping UP is one of her favorite things to do!

The first photo shows Bailey competing in Big Air at the Dock Daze event in May 2012 and the second photo was taken during the Extreme Vertical competition at the 2010 Delmarva Doggone Fun event. Bailey ended up winning with a height of 7 feet!

Multiple Baileys and a Photo Contest!

Posted on February 15, 2013 by TheLittleGSP

Happy Friday! Check out this photo of Bailey… I entered it in a photo contest and, if we win, Bailey will get to have a professional photo shoot and be the “Cover Dog” of Delmarva Unleashed magazine! If you want to help Bailey in the contest please click on the photo. This will take you directly to the Facebook version of the photo where you can “LIKE” it to vote! Voting ends February 21, 2013.

The above photo shows Bailey in Dover, Delaware at a Delmarva Dockdogs practice. I created the image by combining five photographs of the same jump together in Photoshop. I especially like this image because you get to see five Baileys in the air and five Bailey reflections in the water. She also caught her yellow wubba like a pro.

Over the years I have created several sequences of Bailey competing in dock diving events. Here are a few of my favorites! (Click the photo to view the high-res version.)

Bailey at the June Bloom event last summer. Not the prettiest grab but she got it! (2012)

Bailey doing a place ‘n’ send style jump at a pond event in Frederick, Maryland. (2010)

Bailey makes a splash at Care A Lot in Virginia Beach. (2010)

Following her red wubba through the air at the June Bloom event. (2012)

A prettier Extreme Vertical grab at June Bloom. (2012)

Last but not least, a close up of Bailey’s expression as she takes off.
She’s all business! (2011)

Do you like any of the above photos? Tell me about it in the comments section. And please don’t forget to Vote for Bailey in the “Cover Dog” photo contest! Thank you!!!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bailey’s 2012 in Pictures

Posted on January 1, 2013 by TheLittleGSP

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “My 2012 in Pictures” but I renamed it “Bailey’s 2012 in Pictures” because that’s what it is! Here are photos of Bailey the Little GSP from every month this year:

June

March

May

April

January

October

February

July

November

August

September

December

January
Just an iPhone photo of Bailey looking cute!

February
Bailey in Ridley Creek State Park on an unseasonably warm winter day

March
Out for a walk on The Darlington Trail

April
Playing fetch on a beautiful Spring day

May
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s SUPER BAILEY! (Dock Daze Dockdogs Event)

June
Bailey shows off her World Qualifier ribbon at Eastern Regional Championships

July
Showing off for the crowds at the Monmouth County Fair

August
Mid-air contortion at the Dover Summer Splash

September
Modeling with her ribbons from the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show

October
Staying warm and safe during Hurricane Sandy

November
Posing at DockDogs World Championships in Dubuque, Iowa

December
Racing around roadrunner-style in the snow

Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

Posted on December 21, 2012 by TheLittleGSP

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is surprise:

Just for fun, feel free to leave a caption for this photo in the comments section. I think Bailey is thinking “Whoa! That rock is alive!”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate

Posted on December 18, 2012 by TheLittleGSP

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “delicate.” When I saw this topic get posted last Friday I immediately started searching through my Flickr photo collection to find a suitable image. Unfortunately I quickly realized that a vast majority of my photos are of Bailey, food, and landscapes… not exactly subjects that evoke delicacy! I did however find these three photos of Bailey looking rather gentle:

That’s Bailey daintily handing me her frisbee, Bailey nosing the turtle she found in the backyard, and Bailey gingerly saying hello to 8-week-old Barrett the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Pretty delicate, wouldn’t you say? Thanks for stopping by!

DockDogs Worlds Recap!

Posted on November 20, 2012 by TheLittleGSP

We had a BLAST at DockDogs World Championships!! This invite-only event was basically an awesome dog convention because throughout the weekend we found ourselves continuously bumping into old friends, catching glimpses (or elevator rides!) with reigning World Champions, and meeting new friends (and dogs!) that we’d only ever read about on Facebook. Cool!

That’s me posing with Bailey. Check out her super-warm “Trover” jacket… it’s like a big red doggie robe!

Much to our relief Bailey enthusiastically jumped during both of her qualifying rounds! We had been worried that she might decide that the water was a bit too chilly and embarrass us by stopping on the dock in front of the big crowds but luckily she brought her ‘A’ game and jumped without hesitation. She wasn’t actually competitive score-wise — 20’8″ was her longest jump — but we had fun nevertheless!

One of my favorite things about Worlds was seeing so many DockDog “Celebrities” in one place. We got to watch all of these current World Record holders in action:

Taz, a black lab from Canada (Outdoor Big Air Record and Outdoor Iron Dog Record) and Cochiti, a whippet from Washington (tied with Taz for Big Air)
Remi, a black lab from Minnesota (Speed Retrieve Record) and Jordan, a chocolate lab from Iowa (previous Speed Retrieve record-holder)
Baxter, a Belgian Malinois from Missouri (Indoor Big Air Record)
Vhoebe, a Belgian Malinois from California (Indoor Iron Dog Record)
Yeager, a Belgian Malinois from Massachusetts (Extreme Vertical Record)

Yeager actually broke his own indoor EV world record on Friday night with an 8’3″ grab. Yeager competes as part of GoTeam21, an organization that raises awareness for children with Down syndrome. You can check out Yeager online here: http://goteam21.org/.

The long road trip to and from Dubuque, Iowa wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We stopped in Ohio for the night on the way out and made it to Dubuque for the official competitor check-in by Thursday afternoon. I wanted to go through as many states as possible so we made a slight detour into Michigan and then took a route that brought us through Wisconsin on our way into Iowa. Bailey has now visited 13 states! In order they are NJ, PA, DE, MD, NY, VA, OH, CT, IN, MI, IL, WI, IA (just in case you care…).

When it came time to drive home, we left early on Sunday morning and Matt drove us the ENTIRE way home (15 1/2 hours!) with only a few short stops. I helped out by “navigating” and overseeing the selection of numerous NPR podcasts. After listening to that many hours of current events I now feel like an expert on the Israeli-Hamas conflict, the Fiscal Cliff, and a variety of other issues.

Matt handled Bailey AND did all of the driving on our 1895 mile round trip… nice work!

I’m very thankful that we got a chance to compete at Worlds and we’re already looking forward to the start of the 2013 season next Spring! Congratulations to all of our friends that made finals (and a BIG congrats to Carlyn and Max from Chesapeake DockDogs for their Big Air Junior win!!) and I hope that everyone had safe trips home.

DockDogs Recap: Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show

Posted on October 2, 2012 by TheLittleGSP

Last week I cautioned New Jersey to watch out for the Little GSP and it turns out I was right! Bailey had a fantastic weekend at the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show and came away with the top jump of the weekend and a big blue ribbon to show for her efforts. Everything about the weekend was great — huge crowds, perfect weather, lots of new competitors, and season-topping jumps from Bailey!

Prior to this event, Bailey had actually only achieved three scores in her “Elite” title category this year — a 23’1 at June Bloom and a 23’2″ and 23’0″ at Dover. All of that changed this weekend when Bailey jumped over 23 feet a total of SIX times! This was such a pleasant surprise that I’m pretty sure I was smiling all weekend. Here are the scores from her four competition rounds:

Saturday Wave #3: 23’3″ and 22’2″
Saturday Wave #4: 24’1″ and 23’10″ (woohoo!!)
Sunday Wave #6: 23’4″ and 13’6″ (<;-handler error on that second jump!)
Sunday Finals: 23'2" and 23'6"

I didn't take a single photo this weekend, but here's a video that fellow competitor Tom Aquilone took of Bailey's 23'4" jump during Wave #6. I suggest you stop at the 1:23 mark unless you want to see me mess up my throw on the second 13' jump…

Other highlights of the weekend included a brand new competitor — a yellow lab named Dexter — who started his first-ever Extreme Vertical competition at the opening height of 4'6" and ended up WINNING the discipline with a grab at 6'4" (a HUGE achievement for a new competitor!!) and also some beautiful elite-level jumps from our canine friends Mojo and Bosco. Off the dock, we got to meet the nice volunteers from the GSP Rescue of New Jersey and it was neat to get to tell them at the end of the weekend that Bailey had won the DockDogs big air competition! Maybe next year we can try to coordinate with them to get some GSPs that are in need of adoption on the DockDogs dock in front of the big crowds.

I think my favorite part of the whole weekend was right after we won. Several parents wanted to take photos of their children with Bailey so I had Bailey sit while each little kid stood next to her and smiled for the camera. I put a Zuke’s peanut butter treat between Bailey and the photo-taking parents and as a result she was very well behaved during her impromptu photo shoot! Bailey was very sweet to all of the kids and I think she could definitely tell that she had done a good job at the event.

Last weekend’s event was awesome and we definitely hope that the Decoy and Gunning Show will invite Delmarva Dockdogs back to Tuckerton next Fall. Delmarva’s next DockDogs event will be the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland from November 9-11. We will be at the event but Bailey won’t be jumping due to the colder weather (she’s a baby) and the fact that we’ll be gearing up for DockDogs World Championships the next weekend. If you’re interested in learning more or signing your dog up for the Waterfowl Festival, you can click here to visit the event web site.

Watch out Jersey, here we come!

Posted on September 24, 2012 by TheLittleGSP

Next weekend Bailey, Matt and I will be joining Delmarva DockDogs for our second annual event at the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show in Tuckerton, New Jersey! I loved this event last year because all of the spectators are waterfowl-hunting, outdoors-oriented, dog-loving people and there are hundreds of vendors who are catering to that crowd. For me, that makes this festival MUCH more fun to walk around than a big state fair with aisle after aisle of funnel cakes and ‘fresh squeezed’ lemonade (although those are nice, too..). Last year we saw multiple German Shorthaired Pointers spectating with their owners which was really neat since GSP’s tend to be rather uncommon in the greater Philadelphia area. I’m hoping to meet even more GSPs this year!

My favorite little GSP had a great time at Tuckerton last year, bringing home the blue ribbon in Extreme Vertical and a 2nd place in Big Air. Hopefully the weather won’t be too crisp and fall-like this weekend or else she may decide that it’s too cold to jump!

The Details:
What: 30th Annual Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show
When: Saturday and Sunday September 29-30, 2012
Where: Tip Seaman County Park, Tuckerton, New Jersey

Do you think your dog would like to try DockDogs? This is a great event for first-timers because there will be lots of practice time and plenty of Delmarva club members willing to help! The cost is $10.00 for an unscored “Fun Jump” or $30.00 for registration in a “wave” which will get you 2 scored jumps and a chance to qualify for finals which are split up into five divisions. Learn more at the DockDogs event page (or just ask me!).

Dover Summer Splash!

Posted on August 31, 2012 by TheLittleGSP

On August 25th Matt, Bailey and I drove down to Dover, Delaware for Delmarva Dockdogs’ Summer Splash event. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that Bailey had been quite ill earlier this month and, after receiving a diagnosis of Lyme Disease plus a vague possibility of torn ligaments, I was very nervous to see how Bailey would feel about flinging herself off a dock.

Matt had the first jump of the weekend and Bailey went about her business in normal, happy, healthy form. Woohoo!!! Oh, and by “normal form,” I mean that Bailey launched into the air after her wubba, landed in the water, forgot all about her toy, and started swimming around the pond trying to catch bugs and frogs! Bailey always does this at the Dover pond so Matt and our club president are always prepared to wade into the pond and drag her back to shore so as not to hold up the rest of the competitors (thanks Matt and Mike!).

Bailey was clearly feeling better after her bout with Lyme Disease. She placed second in the Extreme Vertical competition with a grab at 6’4″ and capped off Saturday with a great 23’2″ jump for me — her best of the whole season!! We returned to Dover on Sunday for the last qualifying rounds and then got ready for the Elite/SuperElite finals where we would be competing with our canine friends Mac, Mojo, Cali, and Rain. Bailey set the bar high with her first finals jump of 23’0″ and never looked back. Bailey’s jump was good enough for first place, a big blue ribbon, and a prize bucket full of goodies. Go Bailey!