Dock Dogs

Whenever Gunnar goes from the bank into the river/pond, he flies; he doesn't mess around! Most dogs carefully enter the water, but Gunnar just BAILS in!! So, Justin has thought for a while now, that he would be naturally great at DockDogs - where dogs run down a 40 ft. dock and jump as far as possible into a pool (the world record happens to be 28 ft. 10 in.), but it never has come anywhere close to Idaho Falls, so no luck for Gunnar yet. Well, this year DockDogs came to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and Justin was all over that. Gunnar got to go two different days and competed against some other dogs who were brand new to the sport as well.

The first day Gunnar was jumping mid to high 13s' and by the second trip down, he was jumping in the 14s' with a best of 15'5". This is called Big Air. There were other 1st timers who would run to the end of the dock and either stop and jump from there or not even get in which was pretty cute actually. The semi-pro dogs were jumping between 18 and 23'; it was pretty fun to watch. They also have an Extreme Vertical competion and a Speed Retrieve. Gunnar competed in the Speed Retrieve also and did well there too. (They run, jump and then swim the remainder of the pool and grab a bumper at the end of the pool which stops the time.) He was only about .5-1 second slower than the veteran DockDog dogs. He did better than the other beginner dogs and got 1st and 2nds in his waves (same as heats) and got 3rd and 5ths in the overall; not the best, but really good for a 1st timer I'd say. He had tons of fun though, so I'd say it was a couple good trips to the fair!

They also did a small 9/11 tribute - the National Anthem - just a moment to remember....