Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.
In a little less than two years, Caitlin Harrison and her three-year-old English Cocker Spaniel, Caliber, have gone from newcomers to the athletics of canine water sports to national champions.
Harrison, who is a Jefferson County resident, first entered her Cocker Spaniel in the Ultimate Air Dog competition that has been a part of the annual Watermelon Festival for two years.
While Harrison knew that Caliber enjoyed the water, she had no idea that in less than two years, her dog would be nationally recognized and leading her breed in dock diving and air retrieve.
After the first Watermelon Festival competition in 2018 and after realizing Caliber had competition potential, Harrison began to look for other events to enter Caliber into.
The competition journey has now led Harrison and Caliber to compete nationally not once, but twice, within 2018-2019.
In 2018, Caliber went to nationals and entered the American Kennel Club’s Elite Distance competition. While Caliber placed eighth in 2018 for the national competition in the Lap Division, she was recognized as the Best-in-Her-Breed for English Cocker Spaniels, giving the Jefferson County pooch a title to carry home.
Throughout the rest of 2018 and into 2019, Harrison and Caliber found more events to compete at, including their second Ultimate Air Dogs competition at the 2019 Watermelon Festival.
When the invite came for Caliber to return for her second trip to Nationals, Harrison and Caliber were ready. Throughout the spring and summer months, they had practiced and competed at several qualifying events and Caliber was now a pro at distance jumping as well as air retrieved.
But in early August, Jefferson County’s favorite competing dog suffered a health scare that nearly put a halt to Caliber’s fledgling career.
Harrison had already planned for Caliber to participate in a qualifying event that would be held in late August-early September, in Cairo, Ga.
Caliber was flying high and running fast, ready to take the nation by storm in only a few months - but when Harrison found Caliber at home one August evening, in the midst of a seizure, competitions were the furthest thing from her mind.
Caliber was rushed to an emergency veterinary clinic in Tallahassee, where she continued to remain in seizure “for about nine hours,” said Harrison.
All thoughts of Caliber’s competition future were pushed to the side as Harrison and her boyfriend, Joshua Bassett, watched the vet tend to Caliber and fear set in when the Tallahassee vet recommended putting Caliber down.
Unhappy with the vet’s review of Caliber’s condition, Harrison sought a second opinion from another vet, but the outlook continued to look bleak for Caliber.
“She said we had three options,” Harrison said. Caliber was still seizing, and the second vet recommended putting her into a coma (though she could not assure that Caliber would wake up from the coma), putting Caliber down or taking her to the animal hospital at the University of Florida.
“I had just graduated college and I thought, ‘I can’t afford that right now,’” said Harrison. “At that point, I didn’t know what to feel or what to think. It was like everything had been ripped out of me.”
Harrison’s boyfriend, Joshua Bassett had offered to call and get a quote on what it would cost to send Caliber to UF, and the vet left the room to allow Harrison to decide which option she wanted to pursue.
“She walked out of the room, and I threw my hands up and said, ‘God, I can’t make this decision. I can’t do it. You’ll have to make it for me,’” said Harrison. The answer to her prayer was immediate. “Right when I said that, the vet burst back into the room.”
In the brief moment between the vet offering their suggestions to Harrison and then leaving the room, Caliber had stabilized and come out of her seizure.
“I don’t think vets are used to hugs, but I hugged her,” laughs Harrison.
Even though Caliber had been stabilized, she was far from recovered. Nine hours of seizure had taken its toll on her body, and Harrison said that when they were led back to see Caliber, Harrison’s little champion wasn’t even able to stand up.
For the next couple of days, each visit to Caliber showed her in much the same condition, weak and unsteady on her feet due to tremors that shook her little body.
Caliber spent four days under veterinary care, where she was given the chance to recover, and while Harrison wasn’t able to physically stay with Caliber during the entirety of those four days, she was a constant presence in the veterinary office.
“I was there every day visiting and checking on her.”
Based on Caliber’s condition, including the fact that she seemed to have difficulty standing or sitting up on her own, Harrison prepared for a long journey of recovery.
“I thought I would have to do a bunch of rehab with her,” said Harrison. With Caliber’s weakened condition, Harrison said the thought of event competitions were far from her mind. “I didn’t care at that point.”
But Caliber is a competitor and fighter at heart - and this was just one more barrier she had to jump.
At the conclusion of Caliber’s stay with the vet, Harrison went to pick her dog up - and was greeted by Caliber jumping up and running around the office.
“She was a totally different dog,” said Harrison. Any sign of the shaking, weak dog that had been present before was gone and after a final round of bloodwork, Caliber was given the final clean bill of health.
While the vets were unable to determine what had caused the scare, Harrison says that a variety of issues could have caused the seizures - but it didn’t matter. Caliber was home, was healthy and the only question Harrison had was whether Caliber still had it in her to compete.
The answer was a firm yes. After a few practice jumps, Caliber was back in the pace of running and diving, and even, Harrison said, managed to score her personal best in distance jumping.
“I wanted to see if she still wanted to do it and she did better than she ever did,” said Harrison. “She came back with a vengeance”
Caliber and Harrison attended the Cairo, Ga. qualifier event only a few weeks after Caliber’s release from veterinary care, and Caliber managed to hit her best distance yet.
According to Harrison, up until that moment, 24-feet was Caliber’s best distance yet. But during the late-August qualifier in Cairo, Caliber finally hit 24.6 feet.
Once the Cairo event was behind them, Caliber and Harrison began to look towards competing at the annual nationals and aside from a practice event in November, Harrison and Caliber took a break in preparation for the national competition.
In 2018, Caliber had placed eighth in the Elite Distance jumps, and this was only her second time at the national level, so Harrison said she didn’t offer too much hope to come home with a national champion by the end of the competition’s weekend.
Held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., the AKC National Championships took place over the three-day weekend of December 13-15.
After making the trip down to Orlando on Thursday, Caliber’s first competition began on Friday, Dec. 13 with a Lap Master’s Air Retrieve division. In air retrieving, a dog must take a leap off a platform and retrieve or knock a toy off a hanging platform. During her air retrieval, Caliber managed to leap 12, 13 and almost 14 feet in an attempt to retrieve the suspended toy.
It was a close competition between Caliber and another dog, and when Caliber’s name was announced as the event’s winner, it took Harrison by surprise.
“When they called her as first, I was freaking out,” said Harrison.
This was Caliber’s first time competing nationally in the air retrieve division, not that Caliber let that be a hindrance to her placing first in the Lap Divison.
Over Saturday, Dec. 14, Caliber acquired a well-earned rest while larger dogs competed, and on Sunday, Dec. 15, she was ready to compete once more.
For the final day of the national championship, Caliber competed in the Elite Distance contest, which she had formerly won eighth place in during 2018.
While Caliber wasn’t able to bring home two first-place ribbons over the weekend, she did place fourth in the distance contest. In 2018, she leaped 18.3 feet, and at the 2019 championship, she reached 21.1 feet in distance.
“She’s definitely improved,” said Harrison, proudly. Though it hardly needs to be said, as Caliber returned home to Jefferson County as a National First Place Champion in Air Retrieve.
Caliber also received the 2019 Best-In-Her-Breed for English Cocker Spaniel Dock Diving, which is a repeat from her winning the same recognition in 2018; going into 2020, Harrison comments that she’s looking to see Caliber win the title a third time in a row, making her a three-time winner.
Outside of continuing to be the best in her breed, Harrison says she’s looking towards helping Caliber accumulate more titles and awards within the upcoming year.
Wasting no time in getting back into the game, Harrison plans on entering Caliber into a small barn-hunt event in Tallahassee in January and has scheduled Caliber to make an appearance at the North Florida Cluster, an annual dog show in Tallahassee that has Fast Cat, dock diving, barn hunt and obedience competitions.
Harrison is also looking to give Caliber more agility training for future competitions - although she admits that its less about training Caliber, who is quick-as-a-bullet and learns new tricks easily, and more about training herself.
Whatever they decide to do in the upcoming year, Jefferson County’s Caliber is a national champion, a survivor and a loyal companion - and none of that is expected to change any time soon.
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