CATEGORIES
CATEGORIESSadie’s now finished stretching, staying loose in her favorite blue nano puff vest. Three years of training at altitude in Colorado Springs have landed her here, propelled by her coach Sandra, who claims she’s a natural for Pro Elite level competition.
Incredible intensity and commitment, along with the love of a good chew toy, define Sadie. Oh, yeah. She’s a five-year-old yellow lab.
After Sadie’s owner passed away in 2012, Sandra adopted the lab to fulfill his dream of having Sadie compete big-time events. Leading up to the GoPro Mountain Games, they frequently make the drive from Aurora to Colorado Springs to train at K9 Peak Performance. As a tail wagger gifted with power and agility, Sadie can jump as far as 22.4 feet, as high as 6’6” and retrieve a toy in less than 6 seconds.
Here, Sadie competes in three different “Dock Dogs” challenges over three days: Big Air, Extreme Vertical and Speed Retrieve. In Big Air, she launches off a dock into a pool, going for max horizontal travel. Extreme Vertical rockets competing canines upward, reaching to the Heavens for a toy named “The Bumper;” physical therapy-like training is necessary to build up and stretch out rear leg muscles.
In Speed Retrieve, Dogs run and swim to cut their time in retrieving a standardized toy. Unlike greyhound racing, dogs here get win-or-lose love along with dibs on the back seat for the long ride home.
Intense training doesn’t always equal perfection – especially for these dogs. Some fail to find the toy. Others can’t fathom leaving the pool on a hot day in Vail. Jumping sounds unappealing or too exciting. Sadie, for example, got pumped up and launched early.
Happy dogs and delighted owners are the goal here, awards a bonus. On a sun-licked June day in Vail, the smiles were big, laughs loud and barks even louder.
