Six years ago, Deb Feller attended her first dock diving competition as a spectator. She immediately fell in love and knew if she ever had a dog who loved the water that she would train it to dock dive. But sometimes, life has other plans. A few months after the competition Deb was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Four surgeries and six months of chemotherapy treatments later, Deb had all but given up.
But, her partner, Laurie, had a plan! Laurie brought home two eight week old puppies from a friend’s unplanned litter. “Deb has always had a passion for animals,” Uebelhoer said, “particularly dogs. When I heard about the pups that were available, I knew the timing was perfect. Deb would be home recovering
for six more weeks before returning to work. Although I couldn’t be there every day to encourage her to get off the couch, I knew a puppy would.”
As the puppies grew stronger each week, so did she. At just 14 weeks old, Doni and his brother were retrieving balls from the pool. Deb began researching everything she could and even devised her own tools for training. Doni worked hard as he matured and showed much promise for his dock diving future.
It wasn’t long before Deb and Doni were on the road chasing titles together. Over the last three years Deb has remained cancer free and Doni has grown into a world-renowned dock diving dog.
Doni and Deb will be competing in events across the United States this year. When he’s not dock diving you may find Doni moonlighting as a therapy dog or out on the trails with Deb and her horses.
For Doni and Deb, this story is one with a happy ending. Sometimes the best medicine for humans is a dog who believes their love can cure you. For Deb, Doni was the cure.
Cedarcide is proud to sponsor Doni and Deb in both national and world dock-diving competitions. He is currently ranked #1 in the country and #4 in the world. Doni can leap 27’9” in a single bound! That’s the length of a red double-decker bus… he’s also able to leap as high as 6’10” vertically.
Pictures of Doni
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