Team Jumpin' to the Rescue

This past weekend we attended the NADD North Central Regional Championships in Amana, IA. Ella had invitations for distance (DJ) and air retrieve (AR), and Manny had invitations for DJ, AR, and hydrodash (HD). Here's the highlight reel:

💗 Ella 💗
🥇 Placed 1st in her division in DJ
🏅 Placed 4th in her division in AR
🌙 Got to do AR in the pitch black, with only headlights from a few vehicles/trucks to illuminate the rig/pool. That was a first for us (and hopefully a last).
🌟 Earned an invite to National Championships in AR (the top 3 in each division get invites, but #2 already had one and invites roll down)
🌟 Earned an invite to National Championships in DJ
🌟 Earned invitations in DJ and AR to Regional Championships in 2026

💚 Manny 💚
🏅 Placed 4th in his division in AR
🥇 Placed 1st in his division for the HARD Charger award (for dogs that compete in all 3 disciplines; their overall score is some combo of their top scores in each disclipline)
‼️ Got a new personal best in HD, bumping himself into the division above his (and finishing ahead of some dogs in that division!)
❗️ Matched his personal best in AR
✅ Had fun doing DJ
🌟 He already had an invite to National Championships in HD (from finishing 1st in his division at Nationals last year)
🌟❓We are hopeful he'll get an invite to National Championships in AR for being top 10% across all regional championships, but we won't know about that until next week

So we’ll be off to Springfield, MO in October. Special thanks to Susan for picking up our ribbons/medals for us.

NADD Nationals Recap (more to come). We had a great week and came home with some ribbons!

💚MANNY
1st Place HydroDash Novice Open
7th Place Air Retrieve Junior Open
2nd Place H.A.R.D. Charger Topaz Open

💗ELLA
4th Place Air Retrieve Junior Veterans

In addition to his ribbons, Manny received a Blue-9 KLIMB and a $50 gift certificate to Farm Hounds treats for his 1st place win, thanks to the generous sponsors.

Team Update re: NADD Nationals/Finals. Spoiler alert: Both Ella and Manny made finals!! Info if you want to watch it live will follow. Details:

🩷 Ella: Air Retrieve (AR) finals (Veterans Junior Division). 4th place finish in qualifiers.
💚 Manny: HydroDash (HD) finals (Open Novice Division). 2nd place finish in qualifiers.
💚 Manny: Air Retrieve (AR) finals (Open Junior Division). 15th place finish in qualifiers (he just squeaked in lol; they take the top 15 into finals).

Finals will be held tomorrow, Saturday October 26 and will be live streamed at: https://m.youtube.com/

Ella/AR will start at approx. 10:45 am (Pool 4)
Manny/HD will start at approx. 11:15 am (Pool 5)
Manny/AR will start at approx. 1:00 pm (Pool 4)

Dock Diving Central We livestream Dock Diving competitions.

NADD Nationals update: Manny is seeded 2nd in his division in HydroDash, which means he's made Finals on Saturday!! He was 0.001 seconds behind the 1st ranked dog.

Well, the team is in Springfield, Missouri for NADD Nationals, so this seemed like a good time to give an update on Regionals (in early September in Amana, IA - the team secretary can’t seem to get her sh*t together…).

💚 MANNY 💚
🪀 Received an invite for and competed in all 3 disciplines
🪀 Took 3rd in his division in Hydrodash (HD), earning an invite to Nationals for HD
🪀 Put up a respectable but not particularly competitive distance jump (DJ), but it was enough to earn him a late invite to Nationals for DJ
🪀 Had a highest grab of 11’ in Air Retrieve (AR) at his minimum start height, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to get an AR invite to Nationals - but we just did the last chance qualifier this morning in AR and he got to 12’, so we shall see…
🪀 And the big surprise - he took 3rd place in his division in the Hard Charger competition, which is based on overall performance for dogs who competed in all 3 disciplines

💗 ELLA 💗
🌸 Received an invite for and competed in AR and DJ
🌸 Unfortunately double missed at her 12’ minimum start distance, BUT she already had an invite to Nationals based on her performance at Nationals last year (she just had to attend Regionals)
🌸 Did ok in DJ, good enough to earn a late invite to Nationals in DJ

So starting tomorrow, Manny will compete in DJ and HD , and 🤞hopefully AR if things go well today. Ella will compete in AR and DJ.

The Team is 2 events into the 2024 Season (both NADD qualifiers), so it’s probably a good time for an update. Event highlights below.
🩺 A medical update on Ella is in the comments

📅 FEBRUARY EVENT at Three Hounds Training Ground
🩷 Ella went into this event already with an air retrieve (AR) invite for 2024 Regionals and Nationals based on her performance at the 2023 Nationals
🩷 Ella earned a distance (DJ) invite to Regionals (ok, so the top 3 dogs in each division get an invite, and there were only 3 dogs in her division, but hey, an invite is an invite lol)
💚 Manny matched his personal bests of 19’0” in distance and 13’ in AR
💚 Manny got to try hydrodash (HD) for the first time and got progressively better each time

📅 MARCH EVENT at Kinners On 97
💚 Manny earned an invite to Regionals in both AR and HD
💚 Manny got a new PB of 19’3” in distance
💚 Manny earned his Dock Senior Advanced title, which also earned him a DJ invite to Regionals
🩷 Ella matched her PB of 14’ in AR

📷 Credit: Kinners On 97

I was going to wait until I had an opportunity to do a full recap, but, well, I can’t wait anymore…

🎉 Ella took 3rd Place at NADD National Championships in her division in AR!! 🎉

Not only did she make finals, but she placed in the Top 3!! This has also earned her an invite to Nationals for 2024!

I am so danged proud of her!! We had some struggles this season (more on that later) and I really didn’t know what to expect going into Nationals. If I’m being honest, I don’t think she was fully herself while there, but she still kicked a$$ and most importantly had fun.

So, this is happening right now. Ella, Manny, and I are at NADD National Championships and Ella made finals! (Manny did great too!). Ella has already competed in finals and now we just wait for results/awards presentations.

More to come on all our latest adventures...

I really need to get updates up faster, but… Friday of last weekend Ella, Manny, and I headed out to Southtown K9 for the last time to compete in the IDS Championships; Manny had an invite in Velocity and both had an invite in Eclipse. I’m happy to report that Ella placed 2nd in her division in Eclipse across all facilities/competitors (as she did last year)! We have big ribbon coming our way. 😀

With all of that said, the event was bittersweet. The owners of Southtown K9 are starting a new chapter of their lives, which means Southtown K9 as we know it is no more. STK9 has always been our happy place, most especially Ella’s. We consider it our dock diving home. It’s where Manny learned to jump off the big boy dock earlier this year. It will always have a very special place in our hearts, and we will miss all the great times we had there. We wish Shannon and Chris all the very best in their future endeavors - thanks for the memories. ❤️