On Tuesday, June 16, Pete, me and the girls headed out to attend the Dog Days Canine Cannonball DockDogs competition held at the Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. We had to travel about 1400 miles to reach our destination. For the most part, weather was good........except when we left New Mexico on Wednesday morning, it was raining and continued to rain all the way to Guthrie, Oklahoma! Thursday morning dawned a bright new day with the sun shining all the way to Missouri.
The competition began on Friday afternoon. The venue was a Bar & Grill situated on the shore of the Lake. The location was perfect and the sun continued to shine. Team Pete & Mia's first Wave was late afternoon and to tell the truth, we weren't too sure what Mia would do. Mia is a "morning girl" and afternoon jumps could be somewhat questionable. Pete and Mia took the dock and Mia seemed ready to go. Her first jump..........16'8"!!!!!!!! WOOHOO, Mia!! Lisa, Belle and I were cheering from the sidelines!!!!!!! The second jump wasn't quite as good, but she still earned a Senior leg toward a National Senior Title. Mia was scheduled for two waves on Saturday and one wave on Sunday before finals. All her recorded jumps were between 15' and 16', giving her a total of four legs toward a National Senior Title. If she made finals and jumped over 14'11", she would earned the National Senior Title.
On Saturday, there were many, many dogs participating in both Big Air Waves. Each Wave consisted of 4 or 5 groups (about 10 Teams per group). Making finals could be questionable. It was rumored over 3,000 people had attended the event throughout the day. This number is comprise of mostly spectators/boaters who came to eat and watch the afternoon festivities.
But, low and behold, Team Pete and Mia did make the Amateur Finals! During the first rotation, Mia jumped a respectable 15'10" and was tied for 2nd Place. The second rotation started and Mia was ready to go............however, Pete's timing was a little off and Mia only jumped 13'7". Pete felt if he had thrown the toy correctly, Mia would have jumped close to her first jump's distance if not further. With her first jump, she placed 5th overall for the competition and earned her National Senior Title! Having traveled as far as we did, we were quite PROUD that Mia made such a fine showing.
We met a great group of DockDoggers! Gateway DockDogs, representing the St. Louis area, Heartland DockDogs, representing the Southern Illinois area, and the Mo*Kan DockDogs, representing the greater Kansas City area, were all in attendance. All of the different clubs' members made it a point to welcome us and were happy we were able to attend the event.
Of course, the weekend wouldn't have been complete if Belle didn't have one of her "frantic" break aways!!! On Sunday, Pete and Mia went down to a "courtesy dock" on the lake to practice a bit. Belle was beside herself that she was left behind and preceeded to protest. I felt sorry for her and opened the x-pen. I got her choke chain/leash on her, but she was in such a hurry, she knocked me down and headed straight for the courtesy dock! In the meantime, Pete and Mia had started over to line up for finals. Seeing them heading over to the competition dock, Belle ran down an embankment heading for the water via the shoreline. She promptly enters the lake and starts swimming toward the dock. The venue sets up about 2 1/2 feet from the water; and, I'm wondering how am I going to get this big girl out of the water!!! Luckily for me, a few of the Heartland DockDogs' handlers were standing there and were able to grab her and pull Belle out. I was SOOOOOOO angry with Belle! I really DO NEED to work with her and the electronic collar!
After the competition, we headed back to the RV and started to get things ready so that we can leave bright and early in the morning. Monday morning arrives with RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTING, WIND and then MORE RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTING, WIND!!! It surprised me that this could happen at 5:30 AM! There was soooo much rain A FROG WOULD OF CHOKED! Osage Beach received about 2 inches rain in a matter of an hour and a half!!! At 7:30 AM the rain subsided and we were able to pull out. I was a little anxious about driving, but once we were out of the immediate area, the clouds started to break up! The rest of the drive home was beautiful weather...........except Grants, NM, gets pretty darn cold in the early, early morning.....49 degrees!!!
I'm off to Phoenix tomorrow morning and then on Monday morning Leslie, Tanner and I leave for Daytona Beach, FL. Leslie's competitive groups will be competing at the National level. We'll be back in Phoenix in time to celebrate Tanner's 3rd birthday. After a Chuckie Cheese party, I'll fly home.
Our next DockDogs travels will take us to Ridgefield, Washington, in August. Next month Pete and I are planning a trip up to Salt Lake City to play golf with our winter golfing partners. Will post any other DockDog happenings/experiences as they occur!
It's Been Awhile!
14 years ago
