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February 21, 2009 New Prague, MN The 56th Annual Indianapolis Boat Sport and Travel Show got under way on Friday February 19th 2010 at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, IN. An the Sportsman Arena in the Champions Pavilion had standing room only for 3 straight days while DockDogs, back by popular demand, hosted their 2010 Zone 6 Championships.. Big Jumping Dogs from all over the Country will gathered for 3 action packed days in hopes of qualifying for a trip to the 2010 DockDogs World Championships. Team STIHL' s Tom Dropik and his power house Black Labrador Rocky made the trip from New Prague, MN and made their presence known Friday afternoon by showing off their high drive, high flying jumps in the first waves of Speed Retrieve and Big Air. Rocky instantly became the crowd favorite by showing them that Size doesn't matter in this game. Rocky, a non-typical, 55lb Labrador Retriever shows poise and patience until Tom gives him the command. Then Rocky is all Drive, Determination and Speed from there. Rocky finished amongst the top competitors in both Speed Retrieve and Big Air. On Saturday and through the remainder of the event, Team STIHL' s Tom Dropik had the privilege of handling the 2008 DockDogs on the Outdoor Channel Big Air Champion, Bo, a Huge jumping 85lb Chocolate Labrador Retriever. "Bo is a Freight Train coming down the dock" says Tom. "He's big, He's fast, He's powerful, and he's a World Class jumper". "Timing is key when handling a dog like this, and when you get the timing down, it's a show like no other". All weekend long the Huge Crowds were entertained by Team STIHL' s Tom Dropik and these 2 amazing Labrador Retrievers. In Big Air, both dogs were jumping consistently over 20' which is not an easy task in a cramped indoor arena full of hundreds of on lookers. By the end of the weekend Tom had Bo qualified for the Semi-Pro Finals. Extreme Vertical was Not an easy task for Tom. There were 18 total dogs entered in E.V. and Team STIHL' s Tom Dropik used every bit of his experience to bring the best out of both Rocky and Bo. The two dogs battled it out head to head with Tom at the wheel. 5'10" for Rocky, then Bo. Then up 6'0", then 6'2", then 6'4". Team STIHL had the crowd on there feet the entire time. When all was said and done Rocky and Bo Tied for 4th place over all in E.V. Much to Tom's surprise, DockDogs stopped the action on Saturday afternoon for a presentation to Honor Team STIHL' s original member Tucker. Tucker was Tom's partner for 14 years and was laid to rest on January 27th. Click Here to enjoy Tucker's journey. Team STIHL had both Rocky and Bo entered in the Iron Dog competition which is combination of Big Air, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve. "This set us up for a lot of Dock Time" Tom says. "We sure love performing in front of these big Crowds". Qualifying for Worlds wasn't to be this time around Team STIHL. But taking on 2 high drive dogs like Rocky and Bo for 3 days of Dock Jumping action is no easy feet. Veteran Tom Dropik showed the HUGE crowds that Performance can be channeled in to some pretty big fun if done right. "Thanks again for all you Support STIHL we couldn't do it with out you".
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