2014 Let the Celebration Begin. . .

2014 will be a year of celebration in the dock jumping community; a celebration of extreme heights, extreme participation, extreme enjoyment, and extreme showmanship in addition to a celebration of an extreme sport known to ALL around the World.

2014 marks the 10th Anniversary of the great sport known as Extreme Vertical™. A sport that began simply as a training method for Big Air has exploded into an extreme sport that is not only enjoyed by dog/handler teams in the US, Canada and other countries around the world, but it’s a spectator showcase that fills auditoriums to capacity and beyond.

Extreme Vertical™ made its debut in May of 2005 at the 2005 DockDogs^® Eastern Regional Championships in Redmond, WA. Tucker and Tom Dropik, the innovators of the sport, won that event and set the very first world record at 6’4″.

Since that moment in history, so many amazing dogs have created milestones in the sport and have set their mark in the Extreme Vertical™ history books.

Nestle & Angie Jones	World Record Holders and Gold Medalists at the 2005 ESPN Great Outdoor Games in Orlando, FL.
Stryker & Melissa Ness	World Record Holders and Winners of several World Championships
Country & Kevin Meese	World Record Holders and World Champions
Ares & Jeff Wells	World Record Holders
Brox & Andy Mace	World Record Holders
Yeager & Dave Skoletsky	World Record Holders & World Championships. First to break the 8′ barrier
Bo & Crystal McClaran	World Record Holders and continue to push the 9′ barrier
Griz & Tony Lampert	In November 2013 set an AMAZING current DockDogs® World Record of 8’10” at the 2013 DockDogs World Championships in Dubuque, IA

“Tucker is gone now” commented Tom Dropik. “I wish he could be here to enjoy this 10 year celebration of a sport that he absolutely loved”. “I wish he could meet all these wonderful teams that enjoyed a sport that he enjoyed so much”

DockDogs^® will be celebrating 15 years as the World’s Premier Canine Aquatics Competition organization. In 2005, they realized the enjoyment and excitement that was enjoyed by dogs and people alike competing in Extreme Vertical™. They made it a standard discipline at every DockDogs^® event worldwide. In 2008, DockDogs^® added another discipline called Speed Retrieve^™. Not long after its inception they realized they now had 3 safe and exciting disciplines and were able to combine them allowing the dog/handler teams to compete as Iron Dogs. Iron Dog has grown into its own and has been the showcase for 2 years in Las Vegas where crowds fill the stands for the Iron Dog Best of the Best Championships.

Here are some very exciting stats. From 2005 to the end of the 2013 season, DockDogs^® has sanctioned an estimated 912 Extreme Vertical^™ events. The Number of teams entered to compete during that time frame estimates at 16,862. The number of competition jump attempts “estimated based on 8 attempts per team” estimates at 134,896+.

The most exciting thing about Extreme Vertical^™ during that time is the number of documented injury reports related to Extreme Vertical^™ stands at an amazing 0. I think those numbers speak for themselves on the safety of this amazing sport.

Dog / Handler teams have yet another reason to celebrate in 2014 as they continue to travel worldwide to participate while spectators around the world will get to enjoy the showcase and help celebrate 10 years of excitement.

The sky is the Limit in 2014 for Extreme Vertical^™