Fun in the Sun in San Diego

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Medina, OH - March 31, 2011 - The Fred Hall Fishing, Tackle, Boat & Travel Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego, CA. continues to reign supreme as the oldest and largest consumer show in California's second largest city for the last 36 years. The Royal Canin sponsored National DockDogs Series was happy to be invited back for the fifth year in a row as the feature entertainment of the long standing event.
Thursday was day one of Big Air qualifying of the four day event. Two teams set the bar high in the 1st wave of the day. Current 2010 World Champions, Melissa Ness and her amazing rescued Chesapeake Bay Retriever Smoke, threw down a 24'2". But the team to watch for the weekend was Lisa Strum from San Diego and her 3 year old Belgian Malinois Vhoebe (VB) jumping to a Super Elite distance of 26'5". Honorable mentions of the day were, Jack Voss and Jillie with an 18'6" to make the Semi Pro Finals later in the weekend and Lisa Linden and her Standard Poodle with a 9'4".

Day two of qualifying saw Chris Kakuuchi from Brea, CA make it to the Pro Big Air Finals with a 22'. Austin, with handler Jack Barry, jumped into the Semi Pro class with a 19'1". Nancy Bouman and her long legged Black Lab and Brian Jorgensen and Elly from Anaheim, CA both made it in to the Semi Pro class with a jump of 18'10". One team that didn't quite make the Finals cut, but worked hard was Jessie Broadway and Shimmer, who won the Novice division on Friday.

Saturday started with the 1st qualifier of Speed Retrieve. Of the 14 teams trying to qualify for the 8 spots in the Final, there were seven teams that streaked down the 58' distance under 7 seconds. Sit Means Sit teammate Lianne Hassen and her Belgian Malinois, Rex, had a blistering pass of 5.244 seconds to make the Finals as the top seed. Craig Haverstick and his former champ and 9 year old rescued Chessie named Henry also came speeding down the dock with a 5.876.

Saturdays first of three Big Air qualifiers saw eight teams jump over the 20' mark. Current 2011 World Big Air Champion Melissa Ness and Smoke were on fire with a 27'2", qualifying as the top seed in the Pro division. Lisa Strum and Vhoebe (VB) hung with the champ at 26'1", getting the second top spot going into the Finals on Sunday. Ashley Rietfors and her high flying Dutch Shepherd, Pyro jumped out to 24'8" to make the Pro Finals not to mention taking home their first Iron Dog win! Also making the Finals the next day were Shari Robinson and her lightning fast Border Collie, Nevada, getting in the Semi Pro Finals with a 20'4". Perry Collier and his 11 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Sydney went to the Amateur Finals with a 15'7".

After a long day of Big Air and Speed Retrieve qualifying, there was one event left - the crowd favorite, Extreme Vertical, which is probably the hardest of all competitions. With a total of 10 teams set to compete, only 2 ended in the Cadet division (meaning they were coming in under the 6' mark) at the end of the competition. They were Lianne Hassen with her two dogs, Dooley, a Yellow Lab, leaving the competition at 5'6" and her Black Lab, Tank, taking second with a 5'4".

It was the Top Gun class that needed an air traffic controller to keep the planes out of the aerial dog fight above the dock. The story of the day was first time EV competitor Lisa Strum from San Diego and her 2 year old Belgian Malinois, Gabriel. This beautiful first timer came in to the competition at 5'4" and came back round after round by grabbing the hanging bumper 11 times before getting to 7'2". In the end the team missed twice at their final height putting them out of the competition and tying for 4 place with former EV Champ Melissa Ness and Stryker at 7'. Third place went to the team of Pyro and handler Ashley Rietfors. In the end it was two teams from the Las Vegas DockDogs club and Sit Means Sit dog training organization who fought it out up to 7'6" where Lianne Hassen and Rex went out for a second place finish as well as taking second in Iron Dog. Puma, also a Belgian Malinois, and handler Alfredo Rivera went on to grab the winning height at 7'8".

After not experiencing any major upsets in the last remaining Big Air and Speed Retrieve qualifiers, it was onto the Finals! Speed Retrieve kicked things off with teams coming in with the fastest times of the event in the Final. The teams were pretty well matched up with three teams finishing in the low seven second range and three teams finishing in the six second area. It all came down the last two dogs in the final round of the Finals. Craig Haverstick and his nine year old dog, Henry, came to the dock with confidence as this former champ is used to pressure. When the green light lit up at the end of the pool, Henry ran and jumped almost half the pool and swam the rest blistering there first round time by 300th of a second with a time of 5.487, giving the SoCal DockDogs club President the lead. Representing the Las Vegas DockDogs club, Lianne Hassen and her Belgian Malinois, Rex, threw down a first round pass of 5.677, which means they needed to step up a couple hundreds of a second to take the win. The team staged up on the starting line (20' mark on the dock) and gave the nod they were ready. The yellow light came on and 3 seconds later went to green. Rex not only got a better reaction time on the starting lights then Henry but had a much smoother pass and a slightly faster swim. The crowd fell silent as the DockDogs announcer screamed 5.224 seconds and your winner is Rex and Lianne Hassen! With little time to celebrate, the teams went to dry the dogs off and get ready for the Pro Big Air Finals.

The great people from Royal Canin, the leader in pet nutrition, conducted a contest for spectators to pick there favorite dog of the event. The winner was Linda Hettich from Arcadia, CA and her cancer surviving Black Lab, Tessa. The seven year old Lab also finished sixth with a 22' in the Pro Big Air Finals.

The Pro Finals saw two teams shoot it out at the end. Lisa Strum and VB jumped to a crowd applause first round of 26' and a final jump of 26'4"for the lead. Pressure was on Ashley Rietfors and her fired up Belgian Malinois, Pyro, who had a first round jump of 26', but came back for there final jump and launched like the space shuttle in the second round to 26'5', taking home the win by 1".

The Semi Pro Big Air Final saw two long time members of the DockDogs family fight it out. It was Shari Robibson and her cape wearing Border Collie, Nevada, getting it done with a second place finish of 20'2". Lianna Hassen was busy all week long competiting her many dogs, but it was her Belgian Malinois, Rex, again getting the top podium spot with a 20'11".

Marilyn Barrett and her Black Lab, Phoebe, took home the gold with a 19'11" in the Amateur Big Air Finals. Holly Wagoner and her beautiful mixed breed named Sox finished with a 18'6", good enough for second. Sammi- Jane and her handler Megan Kelly-LaRue from San Clements, CA popped a17'6" for a third place finish to finish out the event.

It is always exciting to come back to one of our favorite long-standing events - The Fred Hall Fishing, Tackle, Boat & Travel Show series. DockDogs wants to thank everyone who came out to enjoy the nice weather with us and our sponsor, Royal Canin for joining us as well. We hope to see everyone next year for more fun in the sun!