A blog to track the training and activities of my border collie, Jedi.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
First Dock Diving Competition (NADD)
Jedi's first dock diving competition has come and gone. I don't even know what to say aside from that he completely blew me away this weekend and performed better than I think anyone could have ever anticipated. For a puppy who just turned 6 months old two weeks ago and was just starting to hit the 15' mark at practice, I was thinking we'd be doing really well to rack up some jumps and maybe a title in the Junior division (10' - 14'11"). Imagine my surprise, then, when every single one of Jedi's jumps landed him in the Senior division (15' - 19'11"), earning his Senior Dock title. Wow! Then he went into finals and WON! What?!
I'm getting ahead of myself. Yesterday we were signed up in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th waves at the North American Diving Dogs (NADD) competition at The Dog Tank (the place where we've been training). I opted to skip the first wave to let us sleep in and not leave home until 8:00. I figured 3 waves was enough per day and worried it might be colder earlier in the morning anyhow. Yesterday ended up being a pretty crummy day, weather-wise. We left home in the rain, but drove out of it. We stayed dry through our first wave, but then the rain started and lasted until right before our last one. It was light rain, it could have been worse. Jedi certainly didn't care -- about the rain or the cool temperatures.
During Jedi's first trip on the dock he had a very nice jump of 15'2". Well, so much for Juniors! His he totally biffed his second jump in that wave with a distance of 12' something, but thankfully they just take your best of the two jumps. In the second wave I think Jedi had a 16' something (I totally failed to write anything down after jumps yesterday) and his best jump of the day at 18'2"! Wow! For our final wave of the day Jedi's best jump was 17'7". I'm pretty sure his other jump was 16' something. I was so proud of my super puppy and how well he did on his first day!
Behavior-wise, Jedi did pretty well. Most people were opting to crate out of vehicles for the day, so this is what I ended up doing as well (I brought my tent, but it's been so long since I've used it that I didn't feel like figuring out how to put it together). On Saturday my van was parked towards the back of the lot. Even with the doors open, Jedi couldn't see the pool. He stayed nice and quiet for the most part, and I even caught him sleeping when I went by once. Today I had to cover his crate with a towel when the vehicle parked next to us left and gave Jedi a straight line of sight to the dock. Way too much stimulation for his brain. He was a manageable level of excited every time I took the dogs out to stretch their legs and potty -- he would get the job done and then alternate between barking at me and trying to drag me towards the dock. Waiting at the dock for his turn.... Well, he was berserk. I often opted to hold him and deal with his claws digging into me. He was going to bark and scream regardless, but at least then he wasn't also gagging himself and spinning circles at the end of his leash.
Today we were signed up for all three waves, which meant getting there before 9:00. It was probably about 68 degrees this morning, so it wasn't too bad -- but again, not like Jedi cared. He was ready to go this morning with jumps of 16'8" and 18'7" in the first wave! Wow, already a new personal best to start the day! Our second wave fell a little flat with 16' and 16'4" jumps, but they were still solidly within the Senior division and Jedi earned his Senior Dock title! The crazy jumper was back for the third wave, with jumps of 18'6" (I think, couldn't hear this one on video and can't remember, but it was 18' something) and a final jump of 19'10"! It was a nice, nice jump off the dock and my first reaction (well, after WOW MY PUPPY IS AWESOME) was, "please don't be over 20'....." A jump of 20' or more would have pushed Jedi up into the Master division for the weekend and taken him out of finals. Instead, though, his 19'10" jump had him seeded in first place for the Senior division finals!
It had been a long weekend and I had no idea what to expect. While we were waiting for the finals round to be announced I took the dogs for a walk and he sure seemed to have plenty of energy left, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he started to fall flat a bit. It seemed to be the running theme in most of the divisions, with many dogs falling short of their best jumps. Jedi was all like, whatever, let me at it! His first jump in finals was an amazing 20'3"! Hooray! My throw was a bit off on the second jump, but he still managed a 19'2" to end the weekend. Wow, just wow. I was glad that Jedi was able to finish his Senior title this weekend, because I don't expect he'll be sticking around in that division. I would imagine he will only continue to jump better as he grows into his body. :o)
With Jedi's win in Senior finals today, he actually earns an invite to the Eukanuba national finals in Florida in December! Secret also picked up an invite by winning the Juniors final (that's a long story....) so I actually have two dogs qualified to jump. Florida in December sounds awesome, but I can't see it happening. Odds that Secret would travel and jump in a new place are probably about 10% (based on the fact that this weekend she didn't even want to jump in the place she has been training for 2 months and normally hits 19-20'). As for Jedi, I really don't expect him to stick around in the Senior division, but come December I don't believe he'd yet have the ability to be competitive in the Master division. Also, we will lose our ability to practice likely by October. So when the invites come we will take our pictures with them and be extremely thankful for the opportunity, but I'm sure that will be it.
Jedi's first dock diving competition has come and gone. I don't even know what to say aside from that he completely blew me away this weekend and performed better than I think anyone could have ever anticipated. For a puppy who just turned 6 months old two weeks ago and was just starting to hit the 15' mark at practice, I was thinking we'd be doing really well to rack up some jumps and maybe a title in the Junior division (10' - 14'11"). Imagine my surprise, then, when every single one of Jedi's jumps landed him in the Senior division (15' - 19'11"), earning his Senior Dock title. Wow! Then he went into finals and WON! What?!
I'm getting ahead of myself. Yesterday we were signed up in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th waves at the North American Diving Dogs (NADD) competition at The Dog Tank (the place where we've been training). I opted to skip the first wave to let us sleep in and not leave home until 8:00. I figured 3 waves was enough per day and worried it might be colder earlier in the morning anyhow. Yesterday ended up being a pretty crummy day, weather-wise. We left home in the rain, but drove out of it. We stayed dry through our first wave, but then the rain started and lasted until right before our last one. It was light rain, it could have been worse. Jedi certainly didn't care -- about the rain or the cool temperatures.
During Jedi's first trip on the dock he had a very nice jump of 15'2". Well, so much for Juniors! His he totally biffed his second jump in that wave with a distance of 12' something, but thankfully they just take your best of the two jumps. In the second wave I think Jedi had a 16' something (I totally failed to write anything down after jumps yesterday) and his best jump of the day at 18'2"! Wow! For our final wave of the day Jedi's best jump was 17'7". I'm pretty sure his other jump was 16' something. I was so proud of my super puppy and how well he did on his first day!
Behavior-wise, Jedi did pretty well. Most people were opting to crate out of vehicles for the day, so this is what I ended up doing as well (I brought my tent, but it's been so long since I've used it that I didn't feel like figuring out how to put it together). On Saturday my van was parked towards the back of the lot. Even with the doors open, Jedi couldn't see the pool. He stayed nice and quiet for the most part, and I even caught him sleeping when I went by once. Today I had to cover his crate with a towel when the vehicle parked next to us left and gave Jedi a straight line of sight to the dock. Way too much stimulation for his brain. He was a manageable level of excited every time I took the dogs out to stretch their legs and potty -- he would get the job done and then alternate between barking at me and trying to drag me towards the dock. Waiting at the dock for his turn.... Well, he was berserk. I often opted to hold him and deal with his claws digging into me. He was going to bark and scream regardless, but at least then he wasn't also gagging himself and spinning circles at the end of his leash.
Today we were signed up for all three waves, which meant getting there before 9:00. It was probably about 68 degrees this morning, so it wasn't too bad -- but again, not like Jedi cared. He was ready to go this morning with jumps of 16'8" and 18'7" in the first wave! Wow, already a new personal best to start the day! Our second wave fell a little flat with 16' and 16'4" jumps, but they were still solidly within the Senior division and Jedi earned his Senior Dock title! The crazy jumper was back for the third wave, with jumps of 18'6" (I think, couldn't hear this one on video and can't remember, but it was 18' something) and a final jump of 19'10"! It was a nice, nice jump off the dock and my first reaction (well, after WOW MY PUPPY IS AWESOME) was, "please don't be over 20'....." A jump of 20' or more would have pushed Jedi up into the Master division for the weekend and taken him out of finals. Instead, though, his 19'10" jump had him seeded in first place for the Senior division finals!
It had been a long weekend and I had no idea what to expect. While we were waiting for the finals round to be announced I took the dogs for a walk and he sure seemed to have plenty of energy left, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he started to fall flat a bit. It seemed to be the running theme in most of the divisions, with many dogs falling short of their best jumps. Jedi was all like, whatever, let me at it! His first jump in finals was an amazing 20'3"! Hooray! My throw was a bit off on the second jump, but he still managed a 19'2" to end the weekend. Wow, just wow. I was glad that Jedi was able to finish his Senior title this weekend, because I don't expect he'll be sticking around in that division. I would imagine he will only continue to jump better as he grows into his body. :o)
With Jedi's win in Senior finals today, he actually earns an invite to the Eukanuba national finals in Florida in December! Secret also picked up an invite by winning the Juniors final (that's a long story....) so I actually have two dogs qualified to jump. Florida in December sounds awesome, but I can't see it happening. Odds that Secret would travel and jump in a new place are probably about 10% (based on the fact that this weekend she didn't even want to jump in the place she has been training for 2 months and normally hits 19-20'). As for Jedi, I really don't expect him to stick around in the Senior division, but come December I don't believe he'd yet have the ability to be competitive in the Master division. Also, we will lose our ability to practice likely by October. So when the invites come we will take our pictures with them and be extremely thankful for the opportunity, but I'm sure that will be it.
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