From underdog to world champion dock diving dog, a local lab/pit/boxer rescue dog named Gunter and his 7th grade youth handler Fiona Tinley have defied all odds and captured the “gold”. Team Gunter won 1st place Big Air Novice Division title at the November DockDogs World Championship competition in Dubuque, IA.
From a field of over 38,000 dogs competing in DockDogs diving events, only 400 receive the prestigious invitation to compete in the worldwide finals in 15 divisions. This year marked the 15th anniversary of DockDogs World Championship finals at Dubuque’s Five Flags Civic Center, with dogs arriving from all over the world to compete.
“Exciting and totally unexpected” is how Gunter’s owner Karen O’Brien of Atlanta described Gunter’s fabled win. O’Brien fostered Gunter’s mother Kahula 21 months ago, when she was rescued from a Georgia kill shelter by You Lucky Dog Rescue – an Atlanta area rescue active in 5 local counties. Shortly after, it was discovered there would soon be a litter of puppies.
When Kahula went into labor, O’Brien asked her friend Kelly Tinley of Cumming, and daughter Fiona to come over and assist her. By dawn the next day, O’Brien’s foster family had 5 new pups, including Gunter and littermates Princess Bubblegum, Half Pint, Guinness and Finn.
O’Brien officially adopted Gunter at age 4 months. At 6 months, he competed in his first dock diving competition at Stone Mountain with Dixie Dock Dogs, an Atlanta area dock diving group. This past summer, he enjoyed Sunday dock diving classes at Canine Ranch in Canton, where dogs are patiently trained to jump out horizontally into the water from a platform, and their jumping distance is measured at the point the base of the tail touches the water.
Fiona, a student at Piney Grove Middle School in Cumming, was jumping O’Brien’s other dog Joey when O’Brien asked her to jump Gunter, the pup she helped deliver. Once the same handler jumps a dog in 5 waves or heats, the dog earns a title. Each wave consists of two jumps. At a local DockDiving event in Perry, Fiona jumped Gunter in 5 waves earning the title “Novice” based on the length of his best jump.
When a surprise, last minute invitation arrived for the DockDogs World Championship finals in Dubuque only a week before the event, Team Gunter sprang into action. O’Brien, Tinley and daughter Fiona all made the 13 hour drive to Dubuque with Gunter, staying at a Holiday Inn across the street from the arena with over 400 other dogs and their handlers.
Gunter and handler Fiona competed in a 6-dog qualifying round Friday morning, Nov. 14 with a best in class jump of 14’1”, automatically qualifying Gunter for the Sunday finals. On Sunday morning, Nov. 16 Big Air Novice was the first event up, with 6 competing finalists all getting two turns jumping.
On Gunter’s 1st try, he stalled at the end of the platform and would not jump, despite all of his handler’s efforts. Gunter was frantically searching the crowd for his owner. After a minute, they timed out at zero. Fiona was in tears and there was a lot of drama, O’Brien said. That’s when one of the women working the competition told Fiona to regroup, and just focus on making it a fun experience for the dog.
When their second turn came around, handler Fiona focused on the fun part, and Gunter jumped 12’1”. Then O’Brien, hiding in the stands out of Gunter’s eye site, heard the announcer broadcast “ the 2014 Big Air Novice Worldwide Champion is Gunter.” “I cried,” O”Brien said, “we just went to have fun and he actually did it!”
Rescue dogs can do anything if just given the chance, O’Brien said. “Had You Lucky Dog Rescue not rescued his mother from the kill shelter, he wouldn’t be here. You see every breed and mix of dog going to this competition, what they all share is a love of the water. This year was the first year they also recognized Pit Bulls in the competition. Duke, a rescue pit mix from Cumming, was recognized as the #1 dock diving pit bull in the world.”
“For me, dock diving is a great bonding activity to do with my dog. It’s more important that they enjoy it, O’Brien said. “There are a lot of great canine sports you can do with your dog, we might find another sport with him he enjoys it so much.”
Relief welled up into tears for Fiona’s mother Tinley when Gunter made this 2nd jump in the Sunday finals. “When I heard the announcer say he jumped 12 feet 1 inch, I was so relieved I started crying! Gunter and Fiona were world champions and she was SO happy. I was so proud of her coming back from near defeat to win the competition. It was a wonderful experience for all of us!”
For You Lucky Dog Rescue, Gunter’s win against all odds was cause for celebration. YLDR is an IRC 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue of homeless and abandoned dogs from high-kill animal shelters in North Georgia. This group of volunteers, fosters and supporters is active with foster and adoption events in Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth, Cherokee and Cobb counties saving, protecting and improving the lives of death row rescue dogs. For more information, visit www.youluckydogrescue.org.
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