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Dock-diving dogs fetch rewards at Sewickley event
Barley, a 2-year-old German short-haired pointer, exhibits good form on a jump, during a dock diving event for dogs, Sunday, July 15th, 2012. Barley was adopted July 15th, by Joel and Theresa Rakocy, of Cleveland, Ohio, who brought him and another dog to try out their diving prowess. People from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania and their dogs gathered at Misty Pines Dog Park in Pine to take part in the diving demonstration for their furry friends. A toy would be thrown into the pond ahead of the dog, who would then take a running start off the dock, through the air, and into the water to retrieve the toy, and return to shore. Horizontal distances were recorded to see how far each dog was able to leap. Keith Hodan | Tribune-Review
About 75 people gathered to watch 45 of man's best friends launch themselves off a dock Sunday at Misty Pines Dog Park in Sewickley.
Dock diving — as the sport is known — came to Western Pennsylvania about three years ago.
“We used to travel all across America, and we wanted to get local events to try to get local people interested in this sport,” said Paul Leabhart, 44, of Hickory in Washington County, who cofounded Three Rivers Dock Dogs and is now its president.
Ginger, a greyhound owned by Kevin Meese, 53, of Fredericktown in Washington County, won Sunday's competition with a jump of 25 feet.
“It went very well because there were a lot of new dogs that have never done this before,” Leabhart said. “It was exciting to see a lot of new dogs and different breeds.”
Moka, one of Leabhart's three chocolate labs, will compete at the Dock Dogs World Championships in Dubuque, Iowa, in November after qualifying at a competition in Maryland two weeks ago.
Three Rivers Dock Dogs' next competition will take place at 10 a.m. Aug. 4-5 at the Green Cove Yacht Club in Fredericktown.
Adam Wagner is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7956 or adamwagner@tribweb.com.
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