Flying High with Nestle the Chocolate Lab
By Josh Hagy

That’s not a bird or a plane you see up in the sky. It’s Nestle, a high flying four-year old Lab who leaped his way into the World Championships with a record setting 6 foot, 10 inch vertical leap at the Great Outdoor Games last year in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s probably one of the fastest growing canine sports,” said Angie Jones, Nestle’s owner, speaking of Big Air and the relatively new Extreme Vertical. What are Big Air and Extreme Vertical, you ask? “It’s simple,” says Angie. “Big Air is basically a long jump off a dock. The distance is measured from the end of the dock to where the dog hits the water. Extreme Vertical is a high jump, where the distance is measured from the dock to where the dog grabs a target hanging in the air.”

It was by chance that Nestle, a veteran Big Air jumper, ended up competing in an Extreme Vertical competition. “I had Nestle in a Big Air event and the woman who was doing [it] kept using Nestle as a good example of a dog that would do very well in Extreme Vertical because when he took off, he was getting a lot higher than he needed to,” explains Angie. As it turns out, “doing well” would be something of an understatement for Nestle.

“I thought well, you know what, I’m going to the regional qualifier in June,” says Angie of her decision to turn Nestle’s talents to the Extreme Vertical jump. “So I practiced with him a couple times and we went to the regional and surprised me and everyone else.”

Nestle surprised everyone at the Great Outdoor Games with a record setting leap of 6 feet, 10 inches, beating the previous record of 6 feet, 2 inches, that netted him first place, a gold medal and $10,000. Nestle’s success also gained the attention of Activek9.com, who now sponsors Nestle in competitions. And while his record has since been topped, the leap was good enough to earn a berth in the DockDogs® World Championships. And it all started with a surprising leap into a friend’s pool as a puppy.



“Actually, he took his first jump into the water himself,” says Angie. “We were at a friend’s pool and there was a toy floating in the pool. When it got close enough to the edge, Nestle jumped in after it.” Angie, who has owned Nestle since he was nine weeks old, was looking for a companion instead of a competitor. But after seeing Nestle’s affinity for jumping into the water, she began to think about competition.

“It wasn’t until the following summer that I actually took him out to the docks,” recalls Angie. “The funny thing is that the first time I took him out to do it, he didn’t understand what I wanted him to do.” After a little trial and error, Nestle proved to be a quick learner, and when DockDogs® brought a competition to Baltimore, Md., Angie took Nestle to compete. The rest, as they say, is history.

“We’ve been working on competing now for about two years,” says Angie. “He loves it and it’s a lot of fun. You really do meet a lot of nice people at these events too.” Angie and Nestle have competed in 14 competitions and are planning on competing in at least 12 to 13 competitions this year. In fact, they are planning on attending Wonder Dogs in Buffalo Crossings, Ky., before the World Championships (commonly referred to as the “Worlds”) in Haywood, Wisconsin. With ESPN’s cancellation of the Great Outdoor Games this year due to sponsorship issues, the Worlds have become the premier event of the dock jumping world.

For Angie, these competitions are an outlet for her competitive spirit. “I’ve always been a competitive person,” she says. “These competitions are a way for me to enjoy that without all the wear and tear and stress on my body,” she explains. “This way I can apply my knowledge that I’ve learned about competing and staying healthy.” For Nestle, it’s an outlet for his natural abundance of energy. “I can’t imagine people who have dogs, especially high energy dogs, and don’t do anything with them. A good dog is a tired dog. You’ve got to spend some time with them,” she says.

Aside from the obvious health benefits of physical activity, Angie says there is a more personal benefit to the competitions. “It’s amazing as far as what it does for bonding between you and your pet,” she says. “It really increases the trust in the relationship. I feel it’s helped him become a more obedient dog and more trusting. I trust him a little bit more too.” Nestle will face competition from 11 other high flying dogs at the Worlds, and looking ahead at future competitions, Angie believes they have to stay competitive.

“From my understanding, it [Extreme Vertical] is a lot more laid back, more relaxed. But the key now is to stay competitive. The sport has been around over a year now and with more exposure it’s definitely becoming more competitive. Our goal is to continue to try to stay competitive. And have a good time,” she adds. “It is a lot of fun!”

Nestle barked happily in agreement.




























DockDogs: DockDogs® is the organization that sponsors Big Air and Extreme Vertical events. The 2006 DockDogs® World Championships were held July 28-30 as part of the Lumberjack World Championships event in Hayward, Wis. For more information, results and a photo gallery of the event, log onto:
www.dockdogs.com.
Big Air: Big Air is a long jump competition for dogs. For a dog to achieve “big air” they must run down a 40 ft. x 8ft. dock that is 24 inches off the surface of the water, hit the end of the dock and jump out over the water going after a “chase” object the trainer has thrown. The keys to gaining distance is just like a long jumper, they need speed or momentum, the ability to hit the end of the dock, or optimal launch zone, and have the right launch. A dummy must be a floatable, retrievable and non-editable object. Measurement of the jump, which starts from the edge of the dock, is taken to where the base of the tail hits the water-the dog that jumps the farthest wins. Dogs are not judged on whether they catch the object thrown, however it’s a “real treat” for the crowd if they do.

There are five divisions for dogs, from novice (beginner) to elite (pro). A dog is a novice if he jumps under 10 feet. To be elite, a dog must jump at least 23 feet. Any size and breed of dog over 6 months old can compete. There is a separate division for smaller dogs, called the Lap Dog Division. It’s for dogs shorter than 17 inches from the shoulders to the ground, in its “natural” stance. About 3,000 dogs participate at DockDogs® nationwide and DockDogs® will be putting on more than 100 events nationwide this year. Currently a greyhound, named Country …yes, a greyhound, is the current World Record Holder with a jump of 28’10”.

Extreme Vertical: Extreme Vertical is a new discipline to the sport and is only two years old. The concept of the Extreme Vertical was first conceived by Tom Dropik and Tucker his black Lab as a training device used for Big Air and updated by Shadd Field for competition. It is a high jump competition for dogs. It consists of having a dog jump from the end of the dock and grab a bumper that is suspended out over the water on a DockDogs® boom at a certain height before splashing down into the water. The height at which the dog grabs the bumper is the height for the jump. The current record is 7 feet, held by two dogs.

Waves: A wave consists of two jumps, and the better of the two will be selected. Because of the explosive nature of the sport, dogs generally have only two or three full out jumps in them per day.

Great Outdoor Games: The ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games, sometimes referred to as “the Olympics of outdoor sports” first featured the Big Air Dog event in 2000 as a “filler” event for the ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games in Lake Placid. It was an event that was not expected to be very popular. Quite the contrary happened as thousands came to see the dogs and from that, the popularity of DockDogs® just grew and grew. Interesting enough, just two years after the Games at Lake Placid, Jerry, a 2001 Big Air Great Outdoors Gold Medal winner and Little Morgan the 2002 Big Air Great Outdoors Gold Medal winner, were both voted as final nominees for the ESPY’S Outdoor Athlete of the Year. The Great Outdoor Games were cancelled this year however ESPN stated in a December press release that it will “re-launch the event in 2007 with fresh ideas and approaches that will approve it for our fans, viewers and participants.”

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