Splash Dogs

Sunday, Doug, Brenna and I took a drive to the Bass Pro Outlet store.

 The store was sponsoring the "Splash Dogs" competition. 

It is 3 days of dogs and their owners seeing how far the dogs can launch themselves off of a dock into a pool 27 feet long.

It is an obnoxiously big store, but I have to admit, it's kinda fun to look around inside.
Brenna agrees.

Back to the dogs. 

The owner lines his/her dog up on the dock and makes them stay.

This particular dog was a beautiful example of "stay."

Next, the owner would walk to the end of the dock, turn and look at his dog and yell, "GOGOGOGOGO!!!"

The dog would take off like a rocket down the dock (some were clocked at 35 mph!!!)

At just the right time, the owner would throw a ball or training device into the pool, making sure it wasn't too high so the dog could continue to track with it, and making sure it was a long and straight throw so the dog wouldn't turn as it was jumping to look for it.

This dog was so fast going off the dock that I totally missed his head!!

I do like this picture, though. This dog is SO gone!!!!

 This dog won the contest for the day. He(?) is actually a WORLD record holder for this sport.

Apparently, there is a whole sub-culture out there of these people and they travel all over to compete.

Even though the throw was a little off to the side,

See how the dog's head is turning?

He still managed to jump a whopping.....

25 feet!!!

No kidding!!!

Here is a look at the pool to get an idea of how far these animals go:

It was 97 degrees outside. (What happened to fall?) They were pouring water onto the asphalt so the dogs wouldn't burn the pads of their feet.

Brenna had the right idea and stood next to the side in the "splash zone" and came away soaking wet!

Now this, dog-he was dead on straight. NOTHING could deter him!

Here are some great "launch" photos:

It was sheer delight to watch these dogs do what they truly love!

The next photo is not of a dog. Don't ask me why, but I love to people watch. I couldn't believe it, but I oh, so casually aimed my camera over my arm to get a photo of this gal:

She FASCINATED me!! She wandered out by herself with her cute gold Coach bag, her little topknots on her head and her cute as pie wedges. I think she was all of 5 ft tall and about 90 lbs soaking wet.

So what, right? 

Well, she also carried a purchase in a bag from the Pro shop.

It was a rifle carrying case.

Something about it just didn't fit...

O.k. Dogs.

Here is the small dog competition. They had to be under 16 inches long.

Take a guess what the winning jump was.

Twelve feet!! Pretty good for something that little, huh?

Oh, man. What a fun day!! 

Hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.