Photos by Andy Tullis / The BulletinA dog splashes down after a long jump into the water during the X-Treme Air Dogs Competition at Crescent Lake Resort Sunday afternoon.

CRESCENT LAKE JUNCTION — Why Terri Morgan and her dog Kristoff were among the competitors at a dog dock jumping competition over the weekend at Crescent Lake boiled down to a couple simple reasons.

Her friend got her into it. “That and I had a dog who really wanted to swim, and I had to do something with him,” said Morgan, 50, of Roseburg.

Her nearly 2-year-old golden retriever took top dog in the novice distance jumping competition Sunday at the X-Treme AirDogs Lake Jump finals at Crescent Lake Resort. Kristoff’s winning leap covered more than 11½ feet.

Morgan was among the crowd of dog lovers who stuck around later Sunday afternoon to see the big dogs jump in the finals for more experienced handlers and dogs. The long jumps for this competition were more than 20 feet.

X-Treme AirDogs started in 2003 and, in recent years, has been more focused on events at county fairs and the Oregon State Fair, said Mike Allen, producer and CEO for Meadowview Products, the Junction City-based company that puts on the competitions. He said he is hoping to have an annual event at the lake.

Sunday’s event featured three main jumping competitions: distance, height and speed. There were different skill categories for the jumps. Competitors paid $20 per preliminary round in each competition over the three-day event as they tried to reach qualifying marks for finals.

Getting into the sport is easy, Allen said.

“Anybody with a dog and a ball can compete,” he said.

Not all the dogs went after a ball. Many of the dogs preferred to chase bumpers, or rubber cylinders with a small piece of rope attached.

Seeing dog dock-jumping competitions on TV in 2003 inspired Cera Reusser, 52, of Warren, a small town along the Columbia River near Portland, to try it with her dog. Her first competition was at a 2004 sportsman show in Portland and her dog Chase, a black Lab, made the 12-dog finals.

“I was hooked after that,” she said.

Now she goes to eight to 10 competitions a year, along with many of the other regulars on the X-Treme AirDogs circuit. In April, it held a competition in Whistler, Canada; in early August, the circuit held one at the Del Norte County Fair in Crescent City, California. This Saturday, an X-Treme AirDogs event is planned for Reser Stadium in Corvallis, starting three hours before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff of the Oregon State University football game against San Diego State.

Chase died of cancer in 2006, but Reusser has used her connections in the sport to help honor the dog and perhaps someday find a cure for cancer. Reusser founded a grass-roots group called Chase Away K9 Cancer. At the competitions, she sells T-shirts, collars and other merchandise, and accepts donations. So far, the group has raised more than $800,000 to fund 18 studies, which may also help lead to discoveries about human cancer.

But Reusser’s shirt, hat and ankle tattoo of Chase aren’t the only reminders of her beloved dog. She has three dogs now, all descendants of Chase. She competed with two of them Sunday, one taking second in a distance jump competition and the other earning “top dog” honors for doing well in all three competitions.

Like the different objects the dogs go after, there are different techniques to producing a perfect pooch plunge. Reusser has her dogs sit and wait for her signal, then run down the dock and follow a bumper she heaves into the water. The goal isn’t for the dog catch the toy, but to leap as far as it can.

The best jumps happen when owner and dog are in tune.

“It’s a team sport,” Reusser said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7812, ddarling@bendbulletin.com