Dogs from qathet dive after drive to national championship

qathet resident Ashley Almas and her two chocolate labrador retrievers Luna and Duck recently returned from a cross-country adventure to the United States to compete in the North America Diving Dogs National Championship.

After months of fundraising to cover travel costs, Almas and her two diving pups headed out on the road in October, making their way to their final destination of Springfield, Missouri, where team Luna and Duck faced fierce competition from hundreds of diving dogs from across North America. 

"We travelled roughly 3,800 kilometres to the event, starting in BC and travelling through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and ending in Missouri," said Almas. "We fundraised [for the trip] by having a garage sale, collecting bottles from our [qathet] community, we sold team Luna and Duck t-shirts, and we received donations from family and friends, our community and our sponsors."

Almas said all the funds raised went directly to cover the cost of gas and campsite fees.

"We enjoyed the driving part, from all the beautiful scenery we saw and all the people we met along the way," said Almas. "At the event there were five pools total and over 700 dogs at the national championship competing in different divisions." 

Almas said there were a few fellow Canandians from Alberta, Quebec and Ontario at the event, but team Luna and Duck were the only ones from BC competing.

"They competed in the distance [jump] and hydro-dash categories," said Almas. "Luna competed in the senior division and Duck competed in the junior division, but Duck swam so fast that he ended up being placed into Luna’s senior division bracket."

A hydro-dash, in the dog diving world, is a fast-paced race where dogs retrieve a toy from the 37-inch mark in the quickest time possible.

The distance jump competition is the quintessential dock-diving event where dogs compete to see how far they can jump from the dock into the pool. 

"In the hydro-dash, Luna and Duck placed 64 and 65 out of 93 dogs in the senior division; Duck at 17.670 seconds and Luna 17.677 seconds," said Almas. "In the distance category Luna placed 20 out of 146 dogs in her division, with jumps of 19.5 feet and 18.8 feet, and Duck placed fourth out of 45 dogs in his division, with jumps of 14.6 feet and 14.3 feet."

Almas said she is proud of how well the two chocolate labs did. 

"They gave it their all and that’s all we ever ask of them. When we finished at the competition each day, we would go out and explore together," she added.

Almas said she and her two proud pooches enjoyed having southern barbecue on the patio at City Butcher Barbecue and went on what's called a Fantastic Caverns tour, all dog friendly things to do. 

Almas said they travelled 7,600 kilometres round trip and are happy to be back sleeping in their own beds, but Luna and Duck will be back dock diving again soon.

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