DOCKDOGS® Helps Celebrate 50 Years of Entertainment in Spokane!
Written by DockDogs Admin
Mar 23, 2010 at 05:00 AM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Medina, OH – March 23, 2010 – This past weekend it didn’t matter if you were a hunting enthusiast or fishing extraordinaire, there was something for everyone at this year’s Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show in Spokane, WA as the show celebrated their 50th year in style. Amongst the fishing, the boats, rifle ranges and all of the folks, there were lions and tigers and….dock diving dogs??

“Oh my, look at that dog fly!”, an onlooker shouted from the crowd as we kicked things off with our first Big Air wave competition of the weekend. There were many new faces to be found on the dock as the locals piled in early to give DockDogs® a try with their four legged friends. Taking home 2nd was in fact a local first time competitor, Dee Brandt with her friend’s black Lab, Tucker. With a little bit more experience and a jump of 16’7″, Gigi Grant’s dog, Kiowa, was able to lock in first place in their first of many waves of competition this weekend. Finishing off our day we saw our first Pro jump of the weekend in Big Air wave #3 from Puget Sound DockDogs® Vice President, Kristi Baird, with her dog Buddy, making it all the way out to 23’1″!

Friday started off with a little friendly competition between brand new dogs in the ever DockDogs® “Rookie Competition”. This particular competition was only open to dogs and handler’s who have never competed or practiced with DockDogs® before. This special event was put together by local radio station 93.7 “The Cat” and the DockDogs® Worldwide Headquarters, with all proceeds donated to the Chase Away Canine Cancer Foundation. Just one more step we, here at DockDogs® are taking to look out for the future of man’s (/women’s) best friends.

John Haas and his dog Riley took home the win in our first Speed Retrieve competition of the weekend with a time of 6.245 seconds; stealing it away from Britten Jay and Caddis who came in second with the only other retrieve in the six second range at 6.453 seconds!

Ryan Hainstock and Bridger made the Pro Finals in Big Air with their jump of 22’6″ taking home 1st in wave #8 with Adam Ellis and Hunter just missing out with a 2nd place jump of 21’10″. These two went head to head again in wave # 9 with both of them jumping out to 22’11″, but in the end Ryan and Bridger came out on top, this time with a better second jump, to finish the wave off in the top spot. Just a couple hours later Hunter decided to put a little more distance between himself and the rest of the competition when he took the best jump of the weekend to a new level and landed with a 24’8″ jump in Big Air wave # 10!

Extreme Vertical had three states represented this weekend as people from Washington, Montana and Nevada took turns getting high off the dock on Saturday. Some were Cadets, some were Top Gun but all were having fun as the crowd got loud with every 2″ the DockDogs® Flappy went up. Kelly Noyd’s dog Rookie had the most grabs, starting out at a height of 5′ and making it all the way up to an attempt at a tie with his personal best at 5’10″. Although he wasn’t able to pull it down this time around he still walked away proud with 1st place in the Cadet division. Kristi Baird and her Lab, Buddy, put up a fight in the Top Gun division, but were no match for the World Championship qualifying and Sit Means Sit sponsored team, Alfredo Rivera and Power Puma. They won the competition with a grab at 6’10″ but made it all the way up to 7’4″ after taking advantage of the two extra attempts at a height of their choice.

The power duo of Alfredo Rivera and Power Puma also beat out ten other teams for the title of Iron Dog champion this past weekend. Coming in a meager 28 points higher than Britten Jay and Caddis, Power Puma earned himself a second invitation to the 2010 DockDogs® World Championships later this summer.

As we came down to our last day and the last qualifying rounds of competition before Finals we saw a few new teams step up to the challenge. One being first time Big Air competitor, Mindy Lyons with her dog Sadie, making it out to 16’6″ and qualifying 2nd for the Amateur Finals. In the last round of Speed Retrieve competition we saw many false starts on the Royal Canin starting block as teams tried timing the system to get the best possible time.

The winner of the last wave and of the Speed Retrieve Finals never gave anyone a chance as he dominated both the entire time. John Haas and his Labrador Retriever, Riley, stole the show in the last wave with a time of 6.427 and took home 1st in the Finals with a time of 6.573 seconds!
First up in our three rounds of Big Air Finals were the Pro teams. This division was high jacked by names that should look very familiar to you as they have set the bar all weekend long; but today was the day and now was the time that they needed to bring out their best. After coming in at a close 2nd in Speed Retrieve, Ryan Hainstock and Bridger did just what they set out to do this weekend, earn themselves an invitation to the 2010 DockDogs® World Championships with an impressive jump of 24’5″. Adam Ellis and Hunter came in 2nd with a 23’4″ jump followed by Kristi Baird and Buddy with 23’3″.

The excitement from the Pro division carried over into the Semi-Pro category as two tied for 3rd place at 20’7″ for their first jumps. Coming down to a mere one inch, Drew Howerton and Josey edged out Steve Darnold and Casey for the 3rd place win. Second place was taken by Casey Van Buskirk with his four-legged friend, Zorro, with a jump of 20’10″. Scott DeBruyn managed to coax his dog Jack just ONE inch further to take home the 1st place bragging rights for this division.

The Amateur Finals saw two of the members of British Columbia, Canada’s new West Coast DockDogs® make the trip down to show us that they may be new but they know a thing or two about Big Air. However, in the end it was the local newcomer, Mindy Lyons who managed to make it on the podium with her dog Sadie’s jump of 16’3″, which landed this team in 3rd place. Taking home the win was Jesse Freije’s black Lab, Charlie, earning his spot with a jump of 17’10″.

It was great for all who took advantage to have Royal Canin on site this year with their plethora of knowledge on pet nutrition. It helped make our third annual stop at The Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show the biggest and the best yet. DockDogs® and Royal Canin would also like to congratulate all those teams who made the trip to this 4th DockDogs® World qualifying event and who are leaving with invitations. We look forward to seeing you all at World’s this summer!

Alfredo Rivera a Sit Means Sit dog trainer with his dog Puma at a Las Vegas DockDogs event held at Strutt Your Mutt 2009 in Las Vegas. Puma the 2009 DockDogs Iron Dog National Champion hits a personal best of 7’7″ and then 7’8″ in Extreme Vertical. Fred Hassen caught it with his I-Phone.

Alfredo Rivera, a Sit Means Sit dog trainer with his dog Puma jumping in Extreme Vertical @ the DockDogs World Championships Iron Dog QuarterFinals.

Alfredo Rivera, a Sit Means Sit dog trainer with his dog Puma @ DockDogs World Championships Iron Dog QuarterFinals. Iron Dog consists of Speed Retrieve, Big Air and the very exciting Extreme Vertical. Puma took first in this bracket and went on to take 4th overall in the DockDogs Iron Dog World Championships. This experience helped him go on and become the 2009 DockDogs Iron Dog National Champion. Go Puma!!!

Sit Means Sit participating at the 2009 DockDogs National Championships. Alfredo Rivera his dog Puma and Fred Hassen and his dog Rex take the top two positions in the Iron Dog competition. Iron Dog is the most difficult because it encompasses all three disciplines; Extreme Vertical, Big Air and Speed Retrieve. The most impressive thing was they accomplished this while competing in the individual disciplines as well throughout the three day competition, juggling the individual disciplines while participating in the Iron Dog segments. Many times running from one event to the next back to back in very cold weather, the dogs truly showed their stamina, drive and indomitable spirit. Go Sit Means Sit!