Valley Center
Longtime dog lover Tamandra Michaels has long enjoyed the sport of dock diving where dogs leap long distances from a dock into a swimming pool but as a wheelchair user, she could only watch the events from the sidelines.
That changed last spring with the opening of Agapé Ranch Dog Sports in Valley Center. Owners Lise Ann Strum and Scott Dike built a competition pool with a 6-foot-tall diving dock with a wheelchair-accessible ramp. It’s one of the first of its kind in the country.
Now, Michaels and her 5-year-old German shepherd, Justice, not only can compete, she’s confident of winning her division at this week’s North American Diving Dogs Trials, which opened Thursday and continues through Sunday at Agapé Ranch.