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KADIN

Kadin \Kuh-DEEN’\ proper noun : "friend" or "companion" in Arabic.

It was March 2005. The first ever Dock Dogs event in Los Angeles County. It was the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle, Boat & Travel Show, held at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. Long Beach was my home town and my high school graduation was held in that same complex more than two decades earlier. What an appropriate place to start my Dock Dogs adventure!

My dog Kadin and I got there around 2:45 on a Friday afternoon. By 3:30, he was jumping off the dock. At 4:00, we were in our first wave. At around 4:45, we received our first ever Dock Dogs ribbon, first place in the novice division for a jump of 9.01!

But, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Like everyone else in Dock Dogs, I had watched Big Air on ESPN and said, "Hey! My dog can do that!" I’d tracked down Mark Stuart in the days before the Long Beach event, and told him my dog jumped over my 10-foot fence in the back yard! Well, that’s all he had to hear and he gladly offered to show us how it was done. Getting Kadin off the A-frame and into the pool wasn’t a real problem. After all, like most Dock Dogs, Kadin loved the water and would swim all day if we let him. But once we were on the dock it was a different story.

You see, Kadin was afraid of men. He was very skittish around Mark, and would not go off the dock.

It just didn’t look like it was going to happen. But, Mark didn’t quit. He was patient and encouraging, and Kadin finally jumped in the pool!

Watching all of this was Shadd Field, sitting back and smoking his cigar. He said to me, "By the end of the weekend, we’ll have him jumping 12-feet." And wouldn’t you know it, on Kadin’s last jump on Sunday, he jumped 12.05! And that was just the first of Shadd’s predictions about Kadin!

It had seemed like Kadin had waited all his life to be a Dock Dog. We’d taken him to beaches, lakes, streams, creeks and even a casting pool and he swam like crazy. And he was also fast and a great jumper.

My husband, Randy, and I had finally found something for Kadin to love. He was a Dock Dog.

But what struck us the most was the Dock Dogs people.

Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – was friendly, encouraging and so kind. We learned from Mary and Randy Pasqua of Reno, that it’s all about the dog. We saw how they cared for Ka’ua’s well being, and how her needs came first. We met Lisa Heitmiller whose girl Ida was an amazing jumper, and her boy Tonka who was this big spaz twirling in circles! We met Brooke Tyson, who would later become one of our dearest friends, and we saw Jim Powell and his beloved Cash jump in what would be Cash’s last event. The spirit and the camaraderie was instant and we were so excited to be a part of it!

Two weeks later was the Dock Dogs event in Del Mar.

Shadd said, "He’ll be jumping 15 feet." So, of course, Kadin jumped 15.03. That Shadd! After that, I believed everything he said.

Then in May, something happened. Kadin was urinating blood, so we rushed him to the emergency vet. They said he had a urinary tract infection. He seemed to be okay after that, but then he started to have problems urinating. After numerous trips to his regular vet, she said she didn’t know what else to do and recommended a specialist. I called him up, described his symptoms and he said to get Kadin in immediately. We went the next day, the day that broke my heart. The vet said Kadin had prostate cancer. He had three months to live.

How could this have happened? How could this happen to my baby dog, the first dog I ever had in my life, the first dog I’ve ever loved? There had to be some mistake. He was 7, but he was healthy and happy and jumping 15 feet off the dock. This couldn’t be right.

I called Brooke Tyson and Mark Stuart, who let me cry all over their shoulders. Brooke wasn’t going to let me give up. She found me the best cancer vet in Southern California, Dr. Mona Rosenberg, who founded the Veterinary Cancer Group. It just so happened she had an opening. Lisa Heitmiller, who is a vet tech, said he would be in the best hands.

Dr. Rosenberg examined Kadin and found his cancer was the less aggressive of the two forms of prostate cancer. She gave him a year to 18 months. And Kadin responded so well to the chemotherapy. In November 2005, at the Cynsport Games in Scottsdale, Arizona, Kadin – who was under treatment – got his personal best of 18.03. Randy and I both earned our Senior Titles. By this time, the tumor had shrunk, which Dr. Rosenberg said was nothing short of amazing.

But, by Christmas, Kadin took a turn for the worse.

His tumor was growing again and Dr. Rosenberg decided on a more aggressive treatment. The amazing thing was, Kadin never looked or acted sick. His big brown eyes were full of love and excitement, and he wasn’t afraid. But I was. I was terrified.

The first week of January of this year was the Dock Dogs event in San Francisco. Kadin had just turned 8.

We knew it would be his last event. He was having problems jumping, but when he saw the dock, the water, and all our Dock Dogs friends, he got so excited.

There was a moment I will never, ever forget. Randy and I, along with our 3-year-old son, Quinn, all went up on the dock to have Quinn jump Kadin. As we’re standing there, I looked out and saw all of our Dock Dogs friends, lined up next to the pool, standing and applauding.

Then later, Melissa Ness and Stryker dedicated their world record EV-attempt to Kadin. After the jump, I ran up on the dock and Melissa and I hugged and cried.

And my dog, who, for all of his life had been afraid of men, saw Mark and was jumping up and licking his face. And he gladly accepted the scratches behind the ears from Rich Schaefer, whom he’d only seen once before in Arizona.

Then, the miracles of all miracles happened. Kadin made the Open Finals. He was the 12th to qualify and finished 12th. My brave little boy, whose body was riddled with cancer, jumped 14-feet.

Two weeks later, we had to let him go. Randy and I knew Kadin would tell us when it was time. It was a clear, crisp Sunday morning. We held him until the very end. And, suddenly, I was lost. The pain was, and still is, unbearable.

March 2006 would have marked Kadin’s first anniversary as a Dock Dog. The Fred Hall event was held again in Long Beach, so we went for the finals and saw our friends for the first time since Kadin had passed away. After the last jump of the day, Randy and I walked up on the dock, and spread some of Kadin’s ashes in the pool, where it all began.

I have always said that Kadin brought us the people who would help us get through this. We never would have met such amazing people if Mark hadn’t taught him how to jump off the dock. I will never understand why Kadin had to die. But he will, forever and always, live on in the Dock Dogs record books: Kadin, Senior Jumper.

Linda Hettich

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