Munith girl wins her division in dock jumping

By Judy Williams

10-year-old, Dana Moody competed for the first time in Dock Jumping with her dog 1-year-old dog, Blue.

Ten-year-old Dana Moody from Munith competed for the first time in dock jumping at this year’s Harvest Moon Festival in Stockbridge. Dana and her dog, Blue, a one-year old American Pitbull terrier won their division. Dana and Blue have been inseparable since she got the dog when it was six weeks old.

“Blue started showing a love for water this spring,” the smiling fifth-grader at Heritage Elementary said. “Blue kept jumping into our family’s pond. I had watched dock jumping and decided to try to get Blue to do it.”

“I started out by throwing Blue’s toys into our pool. She loved this game,” Dana explained. “Next, I took her to our family’s cottage at Portage Lake and continued training her on an actual dock. She really took to the dock jumping, and I worked on training her all summer.”

Dana, who has “always been interested in anything dog-related” has two rescue dogs: a 10-year-old Staffordshire Terrier named Duke and a two-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Squirt. Dana laughingly states, “Both dogs hate water!”

When asked about her other interests, Dana was quick to reply, “competing with my 10-year-old American Quarter Horse and history class.