Category Archives: Trips

DockDogs Recap: Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show

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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. 🙂

The Fair That Never Was

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Or, why I drove down the NJ Turnpike last night with my high beams and hazard lights on!

On Friday I eagerly reported that Bailey and I would be returning to the Monmouth County Fair for a weekend of DockDogs fun. Well, mother nature had a different plan. The fair was plagued by severe thunderstorms that resulted in a 4 hour “rain delay” opening on Saturday and the complete cancellation of all festivities on Sunday (today). It’s a good thing we got some jumps in on Wednesday when the weather was still nice!

Bailey rockin’ the dock on Wednesday evening.

As I was driving to the event on Saturday a friend called to let me know that the fair had closed at 12:45PM due to storms and at that point they didn’t know if/when the event would reopen. I was already 1 1/2 hrs. into my drive so Bailey and I hung out in the car at a rest stop for 3 hours (!) before receiving word that the fair was reopening at 5.

Bailey patiently waits out the storm at the Woodrow Wilson Rest Stop on the NJ Turnpike.

After a relaxing afternoon in the car Bailey and I headed up to the deserted, water-saturated fairgrounds. The DockDogs event staff were able to fit in the Extreme Vertical competition and two Big Air waves before the Fair closed again at 9:30 due to advancing storms. It wasn’t all bad, though… Bailey won Extreme Vertical! That’s our first EV win at a National Event and although there weren’t many competitors and her jump wasn’t actually that high for her (only 5’10”) I’m still thrilled to have brought home a blue ribbon!

(That’s the muddy bottom of Bailey’s crate in the background… all of our DockDogs gear is currently spread out on the driveway to dry!)

My trip home Saturday night was one of the worst driving experiences of my life. As soon as I got on the Turnpike I could see the cars ahead of me start to brake. This usually means one of two things — either a state trooper with a radar gun is sitting on the shoulder OR (much worse!) the highway has just been overtaken by an onslaught of torrential wind-driven rain. Sadly it was the latter so I spent 40+ miles of my trip home in the right lane with my high beams and hazard lights on. I know, I know, I was that car last night but hey, I’d rather slow down traffic than bring it to a dead halt by triggering a multi-car accident.

I somehow managed to hit all of those intense storm cells on my drive home. They were moving east and coming across the turnpike in waves.

While on the topic of slowing down traffic, have you ever wondering how the heck those drivers who fly by you at 50 mph in a downpour can actually see the road?? I was crawling along at maybe 20 mph (I quite frankly couldn’t take my eyes off the road to check) and I couldn’t even see the lines on the highway. Maybe I just have bad eyesight but I believe that my speed was much safer for the road conditions last night.

The severe pockets of rain didn’t end until I was about 15 miles into Pennsylvania and by that time I was violently shivering and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably – a combination of the scary driving and also the fact that I had apparently been blasting the A/C throughout the whole storm! (I didn’t realize this until the rain stopped.) What a drive!

Storm aftermath: this huge, well-staked, professionally installed tent at the fair was no match for mother nature. (Photo from Monmouth County Fair)

I woke up this morning to a message from the Fair saying that they will not be reopening today due to damage caused by those storms. That means I don’t have to make that drive again, thank goodness!!! I don’t know how DockDogs will handle the event placement but if they just use the existing scores this would mean that Bailey wins Big Air with her 22’6″ jump from Wednesday and she also wins the “Iron Dog” competition with her combined scores from Big Air and Extreme Vertical. (The third leg of Iron Dog, “Speed Retrieve,” was supposed to occur today.) We’ll see how things play out but for now I’m just glad that I don’t have to face the NJ Turnpike again anytime soon.

Another one of Bailey’s crowd-pleasing jumps from Wednesday. They loved it when she caught her toy!

Dockdogs Eastern Regional Championships

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Last weekend Dockdogs teams from 15 U.S. States and Canada converged on the WISP resort in Garrett County, Maryland for the first-ever Eastern Regional Championships.  This was the biggest Dockdogs event we’ve ever attended and it featured two pools, nightly social gatherings, and the best Big Air and Extreme Vertical dogs in the country.  The goal of the event (besides having fun and hanging out with friends!) was to earn an invitation to the Dockdogs World Championships that will take place in Dubuque, Iowa in November.

You may be wondering… did Bailey the Little GSP make the cut and earn a World invite?  Did she hold her own against our friends and competitors from all over the east coast?  Did she thrive in the 90+ degree hot and humid temps?  I’m happy to say that the answer to all of those questions is YES!!  After a long weekend of more than 20 competition jumps Matt and Bailey placed fourth in the Elite division.  Watch out Dubuque… We’re going to Worlds!

Bailey’s jumps weren’t stellar — actually none of the elite competitors were jumping the types of 23+ foot jumps we’re used to seeing out of them — but her 22’6″ qualifier jump with Matt was good enough to earn her a spot in the Elite finals.  Bailey also jumped a respectable 22’3″ for me which would have qualified us for finals if she hadn’t already been in the line-up with Matt.  (Matt and I always have a friendly competition going on to see who can get the biggest jump out of Bailey… I’m still ahead for the season with Bailey’s 23’1″ jump from Hog Dog a few weeks ago!)  🙂

Here are a few photos from the event:

Remember Baxter? We last saw this high-flyin’ Malinois at the event in Virginia Beach a few months ago. Baxter again showed everyone who’s boss by winning Super Elite Big Air, Iron Dog, and Speed Retrieve.

And here’s Rocket, another top-ranked Malinois. Rocket is from Pennsylvania and he’s one of Bailey’s friends.  Also… Rocket is sponsored by Precise Pet Products, go check them out!

An odd thing happened to our friend Tim during Elite finals. Tim thought that his black lab Boo looked a little slow running down the dock so he leapt in front of him at the last moment. Needless to say, physics took over and Boo slammed into Tim, sending him straight into the pool. Tim took the fall in stride and was able get out of the pool in time to complete Boo’s “real” jump… good enough for 3rd place Elite and a World Invite!

Here’s another shot of Bailey. She’s twisting mid-air in an attempt to catch her toy. Not her longest jump but it looked pretty cool!

This is Twister from Baltimore, Maryland and yes, that stick is about to hit her on the head. (Don’t worry though, she’s a hard-headed Chessie!) Twister rocked the dock earning second place Elite with her handler Steve and first place in the Youth Handler division with Steve’s son, James.

This weekend Bailey was jumping best with the “place and send” technique, meaning that we throw her toy into the water first, then take her to the back of the dock and release her. Here’s Matt chasing her down the dock during a qualifying round on Friday.

To see more photos of the Dockdogs Eastern Regional Championships, you can visit my Flickr photo album of the event.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck to all of the teams who are going to World Championships!

June Bloom at Hog Dog

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Last weekend we packed up the Subaru and took Bailey down to Millersville, Maryland for her third Dockdogs event of the season.  Dubbed the “June Bloom,” this event was part of the National Sanctioned Facilities Series and was hosted by Hog Dog Productions.  Although Bailey started off a little slow she picked things up for the Extreme Vertical (high jump) competition with a 6’6″ grab and then ended the weekend with her best long jump score of the year – 23’1″.  This was good enough for third place in the Big Air Pro Finals!

After a long day of competing on Saturday we enjoyed a crab feast at the event site with our Dockdogs friends.  I had never eaten “real” crab that was “in a crab” (as opposed to in a crab cake…) but after a lesson from our Maryland friends Matt and I were cracking and picking our crabs like pros.  The crabs were steamed and coated in old bay seasoning… the perfect ending to a fun day of Dockdogs!

Enjoying a Dockdogs Crab Feast on Saturday night. (Photo by Steve Sozio.)

Saturday night we stayed in a La Quinta in nearby Glen Burnie, MD and experienced our very first hotel fire evacuation!  We were sleeping soundly when suddenly a strobe light and alarm started going off in our room.  I leapt out of bed and started to gather up our most important belongings (the camera, my Phillies cap, and my iPhone?) while Matt checked to see if other hotel guests were evacuating.  Oddly enough, Bailey was completely unconcerned by the piercing noise and barely bothered to stand up before curling back up on the bed, oblivious to the mayhem around her.  After convincing her that it WAS necessary to get out of bed we shuffled outside with the rest of the La Quinta guests and groggily watched as five fire engines worth of first responders responded to the call and searched the building.  Lucky for us there wasn’t a fire (just a crazy lady who pulled the fire alarm) so after about 20 minutes we were allowed to go back inside.

On Sunday every one of Bailey’s Big Air jumps was better than the last.  She went from mid-21-footers to a 22’7″ on her final qualifying jump… just enough to squeak into the Pro Finals in the #4 spot.  In the finals she eagerly jumped another 22’7″ and then, on her very last jump, soared to a season-best 23’1″ distance which was good enough for third place overall.  Woohoo!

Bailey looks like she’s smiling as she launches off the dock in the finals.

Here are some more photos that we took at the event:

Gunner, a male GSP from Annapolis, soars through the air as his “brother,” a Wiemaraner named Butler, cheers him on.

Rusty, a handsome Lab from Tennessee, floats through the air in the finals.

Bailey took a nap Saturday afternoon before the Extreme Vertical competition started.

Marcie, a black lab from Ohio, sports a snazzy pink vest when she competes.

This is Marcie’s daughter, Penny. Penny just learned how to compete in Extreme Vertical and she ended up winning that event with a 6’10” grab!

This is our fellow Delmarva Dockdog member “Rain,” a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Rain and Bailey both grabbed 6’6″ in the Extreme Vertical competition (pictured here).

Bailey catches her red “wubba” toy in mid-air during this practice jump. Nice throw, Matt!

Overall, we had a great weekend.  We spent time with our Dockdogs friends, watched our Little GSP enjoy herself on the dock, and ate fresh Maryland crabs… what could be better than that?  🙂

The Grand Canyon of… Vermont?

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We spent our Memorial Day weekend in Quechee, Vermont with Matt’s family.  Quechee is a tiny town nestled on the banks of the Ottauquechee River. It took us about 7 1/2 hours to drive to Quechee but once we got there the lush green mountains and river views made the long drive worth every minute.

The town is home to the Quechee Gorge – “Vermont’s Grand Canyon.”  Here are some photos from our trip, enjoy!

View of Quechee Gorge from Route 4 Bridge (aka from the “top.” We walked all the way to the bottom!)


Route 4 Bridge over Quechee Gorge… beautiful!

At the bottom of the gorge the river widened into this vast “delta” of crystal clear water. Dozens of people were scattered around enjoying the water and sunny 80° weather.

A view looking back up the gorge – gotta love that perfect blue water!

Quechee Covered Bridge: The Quechee Covered Bridge crosses the Ottauquechee River in the heart of the village of Quechee. Sadly this bridge and a few of the surrounding buildings were badly damaged during Hurricane Irene in August 2011.

Another casualty of Hurricane Irene – the Taftsville Covered Bridge. We took a gravel road to get from Quechee to Woodstock, VT and passed right by the closed entrance of this beautiful old bridge.

Here we are at the bottom of the Quechee Gorge… what a fun trip!

‘Dock Daze’ on the Nanticoke River

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We’ve had a busy two weeks and I feel like I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit.  I hope to change that in the next few days because I have lots of fun topics to post about including our Memorial Day weekend trip to Quechee, VT, the sure-to-be-delicious chicken cutlet sandwiches with roasted red peppers and mozzarella that we’re going to make tonight for dinner, and all of the exciting developments in my little garden.  To kick things off, I’ll recap our second Dockdogs event of the season, “Dock Daze” on the Nanticoke River.

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First Dockdogs Event of 2012!

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When I started this blog, one of my original goals was to document and share the results from Bailey’s Dockdogs events.  Of course, I started the blog in January (definitely the Dockdogs off-season since Bailey has no interest in jumping into cold water!) so up until now I haven’t had anything Dockdogs-related to share.  That’s all going to change now because the Dockdogs season has officially begun!

Last weekend we drove down to Virginia Beach for the 5th Annual Care-A-Lot Pet Supply National Sportsman’s Series Event.  Despite chilly temperatures, a steady wind, and a nice rain storm on Saturday, Bailey managed to jump into the pool twelve times.  Sometimes when it’s cold she’ll come to a screeching halt at the end of the dock so this was a big accomplishment all by itself!

Rocket had several jumps over 28 feet.

For me, the highlight of the event was getting to watch two top-ranked Belgian Malinois throw down some enormous scores as they each came within inches of breaking the world record (29’3”).  Rocket, a handsome reddish male from York, PA, had several jumps over 28 feet.  The other malinois, a slim, muscular male named Baxter, traveled all the way from St. Louis, MO for this event!  Baxter is the current world record holder and he too came within inches of setting a new record with several jumps in the 27-28 foot range.

World-record-holder Baxter won the Pro Finals with this 27+ foot jump

Bailey’s best jump of the weekend was 22’2” and she ended up in 4th place in the semi-pro finals.  Not her best showing but I’m hoping that this event was more of a warm up since it was her first competition since November.  Regardless of Bailey’s performance on the dock, we had a blast at the event visiting with our Dockdogs friends and showering Bailey with treats and swag from the Care-A-Lot vendors.  That makes the event a success in my book because having fun is really what it’s all about!  🙂