Dock Dogs National Championships are history and I am still in a state of shock. Pico finished second in the elite division to our good friends Kevin Meese and his greyhound mix Country! I NEVER expected such a thing! Knowing Pico though, she probably had it all in hand from the start.

I was hoping to see some of the great dogs from other parts of the country, dogs with impressive records and jumps, that we’d only read about so far. I was not disappointed! I wanted to see Jack, a chocolate lab from TX. I saw him on TV and was so impressed by the way he clawed in midair for his toy. And I’d heard so many good things about Odie, the border collie from Oregon. It was great seeing all of my familiar friends too! I wish I could say that Pico enjoyed seeing her old friends and making new as well, but that is hardly the case. When Pico is at a Dock Dogs event, nothing exists for her but the dock, her toy and the water.

Watching the other dogs practice over the three days, I could see that this was going to be one tough competition. I figured we’d be lucky to get into the top twelve to advance and anything beyond that would be unbelievable. Some of the jumps were huge! Country jumped in the 28 foot range, and Missy Mu, who’d just set the Incredible Dog Challenge record, was on fire! Her jump of 25′9″ in prelims was awe-inspiring!

Pico jumped in the first group in prelims. Her jump of 23′10″ was good, but this was a strong group and I wasnt sure we’d advance. Nothing to do but sweat it out and watch the three remaining groups. To my relief, Pico’s jump was good enough for us to advance to the next days finals in 7th place.

In finals Pico had a jump of 23′9. Because of where we had to wait, I could not hear how the other dogs were doing and indeed, I figured that we did not make final four. I thought that Country, Missy, Nevada, Odie and Reggie all had bigger jumps than Pico so I played a vigorous game of tug with her while trying to calculate my standings with respect to possibly getting into worlds next year.

Was I ever surprised when the wrangler called me and Pico for final four!!! I even asked him to double check, because I didnt believe it! Thank god I didnt take off Pico’s vest and put her back in the car, which was something I was definitely considering!

Jumping in final four was a BLAST!!! They played one of Pico’s theme songs, Stupify, by Disturbed! I could hear our friends cheering for us! What a high! I wasnt nervous at all, at least not that I can remember. Pico gave me her best jump of the whole competition, 24′3″!! I was delighted with her performance and just as delighted when the wrangler later pointed to me and said “YOU GOT SECOND PLACE”!!!

This made the 22 hour drive home a breeze! I dont think I stopped smiling once, even when some idiot caused an accident on the George Washington bridge that held us up!

Pico and I were headed to the event in Rochester, but I got the dates wrong. This is the weekend my agility club is putting on their trial and I must work at the trial to maintain my membership. So… No Rochester… I am hoping that I can sneak away one of the days to start Pico’s EV training. There’s a training facility about 40 mins from the trial site…