The "STETO BLASTER"

This is the story of Stetson's first day out. I had been training him for a couple of weeks and it was time for him to strut his stuff. Stetson wanted his very own rocket, so I built him a fat boy. We named it the “STETO BLASTER”.

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First Launch 8-25-01

Here we are at the first launch, the date was August 25th, 2001. We were having a party at our house so there was a lot of people there. As you can see Stetson is pretty exited. This was the first day he had launched a live rocket. In spite of the distractions of a cheering crowd and being super exited, he did great, with 2 successful launches.

Finally the countdown: 3,2,1 LAUNCH!

Here is video clip of this launch full length & here is a short version. Here is a video clip of the other launch that same day.

The interesting thing about this sequence is Stetson’s reaction time. In the first photo he presses the button and lies down immediately after (he was tired and hot). In the 2^nd slide he sees the rocket take off and in the third photo you can see me still giving the thumb up for a go launch and he is already moving out. This all happens quite fast, his reaction time is quite astounding.

We had a nice recovery and the crown loved it! Stetsons enjoys running out with you to catch the rocket.

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Second Launch 8-26-01

We went back to the field the following day to practice more live launches. He is getting better, but I still need to work on getting him to calm down between launches. He still goes bonkers when the rocket blasts off and it makes it hard to get him to concentrate on the subsequent ones.

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I am still amazed at his reaction time. Here is some video of this launch. Here is the same clip in slow motion be patient, this one is 2.2 MB.

The first launch of the day went great with a beautiful recovery.

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You can tell Stetson loves the recovery as much as the launch, just look at that enthusiasm!

The second flight however, did not go so well. The rocket took a left turn off of the pad and ended up in the nearby road. Just as we were approaching it I heard a "CRUNCH" as it was flattened by a passing car.

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A Sad Puppy...

Here is Stetson mourning the loss of his first rocket. Even dogs know that flat rockets don't fly very well. sad1.jpg (45743 bytes)

Sponsor Credits

Corporate Sponsor: Truewater is the IT Outsourcing firm where Stetson is employed as the Executive Office Dog and Ambassador of Hospitality. If you think our dog is smart, you would really be impressed with our computer technicians.

Field Sponsor: Scott Murff of Murff Turf Farms allows Stetson the use of his very large and beautiful grass fields.

Graphics Sponsor: Paul Smoke of Design Ventures helps out with great looking graphics for Stetsons rockets.

Publicist: Kate Allen of Harrison & Shriftman of New York. Yes, Stetson really has a publicist, and she does it "Pro-Bone-O"

Absolutely nothing on this web site is copyrighted and you can use it however you like.

Just be sure to link to Stetson's Site and give him credit.
However, if you don't, then be advised that Stetson has lots of large furry friends with big sharp pointy teeth. You have been forewarned!

Stetson loves fan mail, send us a e-mail and tell us what you think. He doesn't always reply though; he prefers to bark over typing.