Since losing Ash, I’ve found myself wanting to write down the stories of his life. Partly because I miss him, partly because I’m afraid of forgetting the little details, and partly because Ash was so much more than the dog behind the name Ash & Alder.

He packed a lot into his nine years, and these stories are my way of keeping those pieces of him somewhere other than just in my memory.

One of my favorite chapters was dock diving.

When I look at all of Ash’s dock diving trophies now, it’s funny to think about where it all started.

Ash was born July 6th, 2017. His first time learning to swim in a pool was at Splash Your Pup in April of 2018. I knew he was a water dog from that moment on.

His first actual jump off a dock happened at the Pet Expo. He figured out the jumping part pretty quickly. Getting back out was another story. I still laugh remembering him swimming around the pool with absolutely no idea there was a ramp to get out.

The very next weekend, we competed for the first time at the Field & Stream event at the convention center, and from there, dock diving became a huge part of our life together.

A lot of credit for what came next belongs to Marie Buckingham and the Gated Dock. After Ash’s debut, that became our place to practice, and Marie helped coach both of us into becoming a much better team. She helped take that water-loving Lab who was still figuring things out and turn him into the incredible dock diver he eventually became. I’ll always be grateful for the time, patience, and knowledge she shared with us.

Ash went on to compete with NADD, DockDogs, and Ultimate Air Dogs, earning his Master title and more first-place trophies than I can count. His personal best distance was 23 feet, 6 inches, his best Top Gun height was 6 feet, 4 inches, and he competed in Air Retrieve too.

But when I look at those trophies now, I don’t really see numbers or placements.

I see Ash standing on the dock, completely wound up and staring at his toy. I hear his paws pounding down the boards. I remember trying to get my throw just right, releasing him, and watching my boy fly.

Then came the splash.

And, thankfully, he eventually figured out the ramp.

I remember the weekends around pools, the wet Labrador fur, the bad throws and great jumps, and Ash coming back to lean against my leg before he was ready to do it all over again.

Of all the photographs I have from those years, one of my favorites isn’t of Ash flying off the dock at all. It’s this one, taken by my dear friend Katie.

We’re just sitting together, watching the competition and waiting for our turn. Nothing particularly exciting is happening, but now it means everything to me. Because this was dock diving too. It wasn’t just the jumps, ribbons and trophies. It was the waiting around together, the wet clothes, the long weekends, the conversations with friends and Ash sitting right beside me through all of it.

I’m so grateful Katie thought to take this photograph, because I never would have known then how much I would treasure such an ordinary moment.

And maybe that’s one of the greatest gifts photography has given me. I have the incredible action shots of Ash flying through the air, but I also have moments like this. The ones that didn’t seem important enough to photograph at the time, until suddenly they became priceless.

Ash didn’t know what a Master title meant. He didn’t care that he had just jumped 23 feet or won another first-place trophy.

He just knew he got to run, jump, swim, retrieve, and do it all with me.

The trophies tell me how good he became.

But I’ll always remember the dog who started out swimming around the Pet Expo pool with absolutely no exit strategy and, with a lot of practice and a little help from some wonderful people along the way, became a Master Dock Diver.

For a few seconds every time he left that dock, Ash got to fly.

And I got to be the one standing behind him, telling him to go.

And because I was already falling in love with photography, I also have photographs of him doing it.

I photographed Ash dock diving and running Fast CAT, along with many other dogs competing in both sports. I don’t photograph sporting events much anymore, but those years taught me how to anticipate a dog in motion and capture that split second when everything comes together.

Ash was one of my first and favorite teachers.

It’s also why I still love incorporating action into my portrait sessions. Along with the beautiful portraits, I want the photographs of your dog being your dog. Running toward you, chasing their favorite toy, leaping into the water, ears flying and completely caught up in what they love.