The goal is to jump as far as they possibly can. Another competition is to see which dog can jump the highest as they jump into the water.
There were many booths to visit there as well. We knew some of the people at the various booths so it was fun to visit as we made our way around. Many of the booths had food and they each had samples out for the dogs. Sparkie and Quickie were quite the team. They could clean out all the samples and treats before anyone even knew they were coming. They really were quite the dastardly duo - in fact they were the very cute dastardly duo!
At one location they had a 40' long runway. For a donation to Canine Cancer Research your dog could run down the runway as they clocked the dog with a radar run. So we decided it would be fun to do this with all three dogs. Wazzu went first. I put her on a sit stay and walked to the other end. I then called her hoping she'd set some kind of land speed record! She slowly sauntered down the runway. Poor Wazzu - everyone laughed at her.
Next was Sparkie's turn. Another very nice sit stay! Mike called her and she took off like a shot.
- but Mike was standing near the end of the runway with a treat so she had to start slowing down long before the radar gun clocked her. Sparkie ended up getting a speeding ticket for 23mph.
Mike was smarter with Quickie and after a nice sit stay Mike called him but as Quickie started coming Mike ran away a little bit. This kept Quickie at speed longer. Quickie got a speeding ticket for 24mph. The one thing we really noticed was that our three dogs had perfect sit stays, while all the other dogs had to be held by the worker and then just released to run toward their person.
Since Karen had a booth there to advertise her swimming pool, she was around early enough to buy tickets for totally novice dogs to try out the dock diving. She was kind enough to get one for both Quickie and Sparkie later in the afternoon. We got there in time to watch a few of the experienced dogs jumping. My goodness they are good.
Then it was time for the newbies to give it a try. It was hilarious to watch as the dogs would do anything possible to not have to get in the water. Dogs of all breeds were giving it a try and most weren't even close to successful.
Finally it was Sparkie's turn! We figured it would be hard to get Sparkie in the water as she doesn't really care for any toys enough to want to chase them - especially into cold water. But just before their turn I noticed Karen was just finishing her bottled water. Sparkie loves water bottles! So I gave Mike the water bottle to use for Sparkie.
Mike went to the end of the runway (nearest the pool) and started playing tug with Sparkie with the water bottle. She thought this was a lot of fun!
After getting her all revved up, Mike tossed the water bottle into the pool.
Immediately you could tell by the look on Sparkie's face, she was thinking "Daddy, why did you throw the bottle way down there?"
She tried figuring out how to get in without jumping.
But what she found out is that when you get this far down on the steep slope there is no turning back!
And in she went.
So, it was out the nice ramp and back to the runway to try again.
Once again Mike got her all revved up but she just didn't understand why daddy kept throwing her toy away. But even though daddy sometimes plays really silly games Sparkie loves playing with him so she gave it her all.
That darn bottle is so close......yet so far.
Okay, back up for one more try.
Whoo Hoo....SUCCESS!!!
Sparkie the Dock Diving superstar!!! Okay, so she didn't quite make it over 20' like the good dogs but not so bad for a scaredy cat (being part whippet) that has never done this and doesn't like cold water. But her head did go under water just like the real dogs!
And when she came up, she was totally focused on getting her water bottle.
She got the prize and was very proud of herself. Mostly she was just hoping that her daddy was proud of her!
We had a GREAT day. The only thing that would have made it better was if Slugger had been able to come. He's our real water dog! But Sparkie and Quickie each took a turn in his honor. We took him home some really nummy treats and then Mike took him swimming.
Wazzu was just so relieved that we didn't make her do any of the water activities today. And she had her fun while Slugger was swimming. She made friends with a little bunny rabbit. They sat about six inches from each other for over half an hour. The bunny was having a bit of grass for a snack and Wazzu just sat there watching. Every once in a while the bunny would put its nose toward Wazzu and sniff and sniff - and Wazzu would just wag her tail really fast.
So I'd say a good time was had by all today.
Debbie
6/16/07
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