When Dogs Fly!

WRITTEN BY JENNA-LEY HARRISON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL MULKEY IMAGES

They race toward a target with impressive speed. They launch through the air, defying gravity. They dive into water and paddle to victory. They are Palmetto DockDogs and part of the annual, outdoor tradition of the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, celebrating its 37th year this month in the Lowcountry.

“DockDogs has been going to SEWE for 15 years; it’s been a long time,” said Deb Feller, Johns Island resident and board president of Palmetto DockDogs. With a goal to highlight wildlife and promote conservation education, SEWE is a three-day celebration of all elements relating to the outdoors. Exhibits, including art and sporting demos, span the Lowcountry, creating the largest event of its kind in the country, and DockDogs is part of what makes SEWE a memorable affair.

It was 2011 when the local organization formed. It’s an affiliate of the larger Worldwide DockDogs nonprofit, established two decades ago and Palmetto DockDogs remains the only elite club of its kind in South Carolina. At least 50 similar affiliates of Worldwide DockDogs operate around the U.S., Canada and Australia. Their goal? To spread the awareness and adventure associated with the unique aquatic canine sport. “In order to grow the sport even bigger, the CEO of DockDogs (Worldwide) had this great idea to do nonprofit clubs,” Feller said.

Palmetto DockDogs, specifically, has been successful in uniting similarlyminded dog-lovers around large-scale events like SEWE and other smaller DockDogs events—all for the purpose of showing off their talented fourlegged friends and raising funds.

“The idea of the club is to try to get people interested (in the sport) and hold practices and sell merchandise and make more money to put more events on to play with our dogs,” Feller said.

Despite the “elite” description, there’s certainly no pretention among members of the niche activity. Simply put, Feller explained how the pooch-focused fun is really just about “people with their dogs enjoying time together.” And the camaraderie has certainly been the main ingredient gluing the group together over the years and drawing in more members. According to Feller, Palmetto DockDogs has a solid membership of about 30 people and their pups—who consider themselves as close as one, big run/jump/swim family.

“The dock dog community is really tight,” Feller said. “When we go to world championships, I can stay up to date on my friends in California, in Australia, in Canada. We stay very tight and talk to each other over the course of the year.” Affection for animals is nothing new for Feller; it’s all part of her rural roots, having grown up caring for horses and dogs—but it was the latter species that pawed its way into her heart, making a forever home there, during a season of personal health challenges. When doctors discovered Feller had ovarian cancer, the diagnosis rocked her world but it didn’t hold her down long.

Feller credited her partner Laurie Uebelhoer with helping to dissolve that tough season and restore her happiness in a unique way. Feller said Uebelhoer knew just the right trick— working with man’s best friend again—would revive her own, discouraged best friend. “I had (had) treatment (and) surgeries, and I wasn’t feeling so hot,” Feller said, “and my partner knows me well enough (that) if I have new puppies, I’m going to get out bed and train them. …I have a connection with them.” Two lab puppies later, Feller was emotionally rejuvenated and set on reclaiming her zest for life—in addition to adding “DockDogs” to her personal resume.

She started teaching the puppies, which included yellow lab Doni—now 8 and still actively dock dog competing—in all three of the sport’s disciplines: “big air,” “speed retreat” and “extreme vertical. The training rendered Feller’s dogs even more unique in the DockDogs world because of their ability to individually master the entire trio of tricks—a “really unusual” and rare accomplishment, Feller said.

The rest is history. That same year, Doni’s accolades started piling up—starting with a pretty prestigious feat: a qualification for the DockDog World Championships. But Feller and Doni aren’t the only ones in the family collecting awards.

“My granddaughter Kaitie was a teen (at the time) and qualified as a youth handler at the same time with Doni,” Feller said. Doni has gone on to attend six total world competitions— leaving five times as the top-ranked yellow lab.

“There are 500 dogs that show up at World Championships by invitation only,” Feller said. “It’s kind of a big deal.”

Feller further explained the sport’s three different disciplines, likening the “big air” trick—she said “what you usually see on T.V.” in a DockDogs competition—to a triathlon’s long-jump event. The goal of “big air” is for a dog, in a short 60 seconds, to sprint down a 40-foot dock—constructed on top of a semitruck trailer—jump over water and fetch a toy, dubbed a “bumper,” that’s been thrown ahead by the down’s owner. The distance of the jump is measured and scored.

Don’t forget those four-legged family members! Reserve your session TODAY! follow us “I have one minute to get the dog in motion to get to the water,” Feller said. “My idea is to keep that bumper about two feet in front of my dog’s nose, and that’ll keep him driving through the air.” And it’s only a simple release word that sets the canine in motion. “I give him a release word, and he comes running as fast as he can at me,” Feller said. “(Doni’s) been doing this for six years so he knows. I just say, ‘OK, Doni.’” In “extreme vertical,” one of the competition’s “biggest crowd pleasers,” Feller said, the canine’s goal is to jump off the dock and up toward a bumper suspended from strings and a magnet. According to Feller, the trick actually started out as a training exercise for DockDogs,

During the event, a dog is given only two tries to touch the bumper, stationed at a starting height of 4 feet, 10 inches, above the pool. With each successful touch, the bumper is raised an additional two inches. According to Feller, the current world record is 8 feet, 10 inches and is not too much higher than the “extreme vertical” record of Jon Snow, her granddaughter’s dog. Snow’s best “extreme vertical”—7 feet, 9 inches—once secured him a third place award at the world championships.

Lastly, there’s the “speed retrieve” discipline, similar to that of a 50-yard dash event. A dog’s goal in this activity is to retrieve a bumper as fast as it can, in under a minute, from across the pool. Without triggering a false start, the dog, whose paws are placed in a painted box, waits his owner’s command or other signal before sprinting off the dock.

“(The dog) runs 20 feet to the end of the dock, jumps into the water and swims as fast as he can…pulls down the bumper and sets the time of how fast (he) can swim,” Feller said.

Perhaps, one of the most distinguished feats at a DockDogs event is taking home the “Best All-Around” athlete dog. The special “iron dog score” is generated by combining all three discipline scores. In addition to Doni, Feller’s black-and-white border collie Raylan is another DockDogs standout. But the competing canine pair aren’t the only furry friends that fill the handler’s home; the pet posse includes three others.

“These are my pets; they sleep with me,” Feller said. “I love them; (it’s) unconditional love. When Doni looks at me, he just melts me. He’s the sweetest dog.” However, her mini Dachshund, though not a DockDogs standout, often attempts to swim on her own. “She won’t compete; she just plops into the water,” Feller said with a laugh.

Though perhaps not Dachshunds, many canine breeds are quite active in the DockDogs world—from Pit bulls and German shepherds to labradoodles and just about “any of the doodles,” Feller said.

“If they are from a water-loving line, they will do it,” Feller said. “Every dog can train.” The only competition requirements? A canine be at least 6-months-old and its human handler at least 7-years-old.

Even after years into the unique, aquatic canine hobby, Feller still vividly recalls the moment she and Uebelhoer first dreamed of a DockDogs future—naturally, SEWE the inspirational backdrop to spark the idea.

“I was at SEWE and I watched a DockDogs event, and I was so fascinated,” Feller said. “I told my partner. …I said, ‘Next lab we have, I’m going to teach him to dock dive.’” The initial spark is now a flame the ladies don’t believe will soon dwindle.

“The sport becomes very addicting,” Feller said. The dock dogs training facility, the only one of its kind in the area, is located at Benji’s Bed and Breakfast on Pawley’s Island.

For more information, visit Palmetto DockDogs on Facebook.

At this year’s SEWE showcase, set for February 14-16, registration for the DockDogs competition will open daily at 9 a.m. at Charleston’s Brittlebank Park. Dogs must be pre-registered to compete. According to the online niche exposition, it’s the only initiative of its kind, east of the Mississippi, that hosts a two-tank DockDogs® event. Come marvel at an array of breeds and their skillsets. Competitions will occur daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Sunday—with finals in the afternoon—when activities will conclude at 4 p.m. For more details and to pre-register, visit www.dockdogs.com. ■