Seeing Double… A GSP House Guest!

Posted in Adventures at Home, Bailey by Annie T

Just before Christmas 2012 Matt’s parents rescued a beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer and named her Bella. Prior to her rescue Bella was discovered by a forest ranger wandering around in a New Jersey state forest (in cold winter weather!!) and she was underfed and seriously in need of a loving family. Lucky for Bella, Matt’s parents welcomed her into their home and she is now enjoying a comfortable, happy life with her new family!

Bailey and Bella are really similar in size and coloring. We sometimes joke that Bella could be Bailey’s sister… after all, Bailey was the runt of a 10-puppy litter born just 30 minutes from the state forest where Bella was found! Biological siblings or not, Bella and Bailey are great friends and we take care of Bella when Matt’s parents are out of town. We have Bella this weekend and I had fun doing a mini photoshoot with the GSP girls.

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As you can see, Bailey and Bella are in a constant competition to steal each other’s toys. Today they were vying for the same orange squeaky toy. Aren’t they cute?

Bella sticks her tongue out at Bailey

“Why does Bella get the toy”

Bella

Bailey sneaks up on Bella

We don’t know what Bella’s background is, but she definitely has good hunting instincts. Today she discovered a monarch butterfly in my flower garden and spent quite a while stalking and pointing at it. Bailey used to point at butterflies but seems to have lost interest in them… now she focuses on squirrels, groundhogs and birds!

Bella points at a monarch butterfly

Bella

The object of Bella’s affections

As I write this post we’re watching TV in our home office with the two dogs. Bailey is snuggled comfortably on Bella’s bed (because Bailey is a HUGE bed hog!) and Bella has generously decided that that’s OK and she is alternating between lying on the floor at Matt’s feet and curling up in an awkwardly tiny ball on Bailey’s very small bed. What a good pup! Soon we’ll put both dogs to bed so they can rest up for another fun day in the back yard tomorrow!

Does your dog have a best friend? Tell me about them! 🙂

Related Post: Our Four-Legged House Guest (Hershey the Chocolate Lab)

18Jul2013

DockDogs Eastern Regional Championships 2013

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

Less than 72 hours after returning home from our St. Lucia honeymoon Matt and I packed up the Subaru and set out with Bailey to the WISP Resort in western Maryland for the 2013 DockDogs Eastern Regional Championships! If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may remember that last year at the 2012 Regional Championships Bailey earned an invitation to Worlds by placing 4th in the Elite Big Air division. Bailey didn’t do quite as well this year but we still had a blast!!

Bailey’s best Big Air jump of the weekend was 21’2″ and she grabbed 5’10” in Extreme Vertical. I think that’s pretty good considering that she hadn’t jumped off a dock since last November! 🙂 Here’s a sequence of one of her Extreme Vertical jumps:

One of my favorite things about DockDogs events is that Matt and I get to spend quality time snuggling with Bailey. She is not allowed in our bed at home, but when we travel to pet-friendly hotels she sleeps with us and she makes herself very comfortable on our bed when we leave her alone in the room. We have an ongoing battle where we try to shield the pillows with blankets (because, as much as I love Bailey, it’s not my goal to sleep on a pillow that’s been nuzzled by a dog dipped in DockDogs pool water!) but, try as we might, Bailey always burrows her way under the blankets and we return to find her nestled in a luxurious doggie pillow nest. (It’s adorable.) I’ll have to try to get a photo of Bailey on the bed next time, but for now here are some other photos from the weekend!

Bailey towing her yellow wubba to shore

Bailey and Matt

Matt and Bailey at the WISP Resort

Bailey

Bailey and her GSP friend, Flyer!

More Extreme Vertical

This next photo cracks me up… I always let Bailey watch the dog before her jump to get her excited but I didn’t realize that Matt was capturing the moment on camera! The jumping dog is Mojo, a fellow Delmarva DockDogs club member, and yes, that’s Bailey’s little head peeking over the side of the pool!! (And me making a funny face… I was telling her to look!)

Good times. Well, that’s about it for the event recap. Thanks for stopping by!

11May2013

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Posted in Bailey by Annie T

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

Hiding behind the tulips

Bailey ponders life with a ball in her mouth

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!

22Apr2013

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

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!

15Feb2013

Multiple Baileys and a Photo Contest!

Posted in Bailey by Annie T

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!!! 🙂

1Jan2013

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bailey’s 2012 in Pictures

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

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

21Dec2012

Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

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!”

20Nov2012

DockDogs Worlds Recap!

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

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.

13Nov2012

Preparing for DockDogs World Championships!

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

After months of waiting we are now only 3 days away from the start of DockDogs World Championships! Bailey qualified for this invite-only event back in July and now we are getting ready to make the long (long, long!) drive to Dubuque, Iowa. In anticipation of Worlds, I’ve created several pieces of Bailey “swag” including trading cards, t-shirts, a decal, and a banner. I’m really happy with how everything turned out so I thought I’d do a post on all of the custom items that we’ll be bringing with us to Dubuque.Many Worlds competitors are bringing “trading cards” featuring fun facts and photos of their dog. Rumor has it there may actually be a “Paw-tograph” session where willing dogs can stamp their paw print onto their cards for adoring crowds, but it seems that the main purpose of these cards is really for competitors from around the country to exchange info about their dogs and, of course, get some bragging rights for being Worlds invitees! Here are the double-sided cards that I got printed for Bailey at OvernightPrints.com:

I also made “The Little GSP” shirts for Matt and myself to wear at the competition. I used a silhouette of Bailey jumping (it’s actually the same photo as the top left image on her trading card) and had these shirts printed at BlueCotton.com. The shirts are super soft and my Bailey shirt is quickly becoming my favorite t-shirt of all time!

DockDogs is hosting a “window-tagging” contest (i.e. “DOCKDOGS WORLDS OR BUST” written all over the car windows) but we are skipping the window paint in favor of our Little GSP decal. I had our decal made at VistaPrint.com a few years ago. If you see a silver Subaru Forester driving down the highway with this decal (or ANY window-tagged DockDogs vehicle, for that matter!) please feel free to honk and wave!

Our last bit of “Swag” for Worlds is a banner that features all of the Delmarva DockDogs that will be competing in Dubuque. We are excited that so many of our club members will be joining us at the event and we’ll proudly display this banner with our fellow club members in the competitor area. The banner also came from VistaPrint.com:

We’ll be heading out to Dubuque in our swag-laden car in about 20 hours. Wish us luck! 🙂

2Oct2012

DockDogs Recap: Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

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. 🙂