A Year Ago this Week on ISBAA : Leaping Water Dogs

This blog went daily a year ago and I have been fortunate to have a lot of new followers come along for the ride since. I have recently began reposting popular photos I placed on this blog a year ago. This Blog post continues to be one of the most viewed on ISBAA. The photo at the bottom of this post, while not technically well done, is my favorite!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Eastern Regional DockDogs Championships at the WISP resort at Deep Creek Lake in McHenry, MD.

When I saw that the weekly photo challenge was “Companionable,” I could not think of a better group of my pictures that would illustrate this theme than what I photographed at the DockDogs event. (Please do not miss the slideshow at the bottom of this post to see even more images from this outstanding event.)

Everyone and every animal truly seemed to enjoy this competition.
The championships consisted of different events where dogs were judged on their longest leap into a pool and on how fast they could retrieve an object after diving into a pool. Please see more photos below.

What struck me most (in addition to the pure athletic ability of these dogs) was the bond developed between the dogs and their human companions evident during every part of the event.

What always drew me to sports photography when I was a working photojournalist was capturing the human emotion of a game or competition, even more so than just getting the action.

I was pleased with some of these photos because I was able to combine the athleticism of the dogs as well as the excitement of their “coaches” in one frame.

If you have the opportunity to attend a DockDogs event in your area, be sure to do it. It is really a lot of fun and you will meet a lot of nice people who really love their dogs. I hope you enjoy some of the other photos below.

web dog six

web jack russellNAT_4541 — This final photo was a cute moment. This dog just refused to jump in the water despite a few minutes of cajoling. It is almost like the dog was thinking I am not going in there in my new pink shirt.

paine dog reaction jack russell — This photo does not meet my usual technical standards, but the look on this dogs face is just priceless!

Post Script, Friday, July 12, 2013–After the great response I received to this post, I went thru the couple of hours of photos I shot at the Dockdogs Eastern Regional in Deep Creek Lake and found some more photos you might enjoy for the following slide show. Thanks Rob

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