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Stetson The Rocket Dog
Welcome to Stetson's web site. Stetson is a
sable coated Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog) who is a marvelous
companion and the fastest learning dog I have ever trained.
After exhausting my imagination and several dog trick books,
I ran out of new tricks to teach him
until now... He has learned to launch model rockets by himself with his
P.A.L. (Paw Activated Launch). You will find the entire
story posted here, as well as video footage, launch photos and
even diagrams for the PAL. I have had a tremendous amount of fun teaching Stetson to
be a Rocket Dog. I hope you find his story interesting and entertaining.
About Stetson
Yes, it’s true. My
dog, Stetson, is into model rocketry. I got
the idea when I saw how exited he got when I took him to the field to launch rockets
with my nephew Blake. I would start counting down and he would go crazy. So I thought, why not teach him to launch rockets. People did not think it was possible, but as you
can see here, it really is.
Ok, you probably think a
couple of things already. First, that I have
way too much time on my hands, and second that I need therapy. Well, it really did not take that much time since
he learns pretty fast and as for the therapy….
If you would like to make a donation to the Robert Byrd Mental Therapy Fund
let me know.
When I first shared the
idea it was met with a lot of skepticism. Even from my
wife who's first response was, "Yeah Right", but we pulled it off, Stetson and I...
News
Most recent items listed first.
November 9th 2008: Stetson makes the Baytown Sun a third
time!
Tara Sullivan of the Baytown Sun met Stetson at this years Neighborhood Night
Out which we usually host at our home. She was intrigued by Stetson and wanted
to do another story on him. So on Sunday November 2nd we headed out to Crosby
for another shoot.
November 24th 2002: WB39 Story Aires
The news coverage of Stetson was moved to
the 24th. I captured it and posted the full story here
here on the videos page.
November 2nd 2002: WB39 does a film shoot
Stetson has hit the big time. WB39 shot the footage today for a news story
scheduled to run November 21st at 9pm on the local TV station, channel 39.
November 1st 2002: Stetson gets a Publicist
Kate Allen
of Harrison & Shriftman
in New
York volunteers to be Stetson's publicist. Look out Letterman, Stetsons on
his way...
November 1st 2002: Stetson makes the Baytown Sun a
second time
Allyson Gonzalez wrote another story about Stetson, and announced the WB39
shoot.
August 2002: Stetson Goes to
NARAM 44
NARAM is the annual weeklong event put on by the
National Association of Rocketry. Stetson, my wife Susan, and I drove
to McGregor Texas for this event.
August 2002: Second Baptist Carnival
Stetson was invited to do a demonstration launch at the Annual Second Baptist
Carnival in Baytown. It was raining so I did not take launch photos.
There were close to 200 people in and out of the carnival. Surely
someone took some photos. If you have any please send me an
e-mail.
The rain however did not dampen Stetsons spirits, he launched as
enthusiastically as ever. We did lose 3 rockets in the trees, 2 of which
were recovered a couple of days later with the help of Mark Hall, the host.
July 2002:
Stetsons first comic Strip
Stetson was featured in the Wonder Moose comic strip for the Cap Squadron July
Newsletter. Thanks to Mark Sinicki for sending the comic strip artwork.
(Hint, right click the link and save as for best results.)
July 2002: Stetson Launches for Boy Scout Troop 404
Stetson does exhibition launch for Boy Scout Troop 404 during their
Rocketry Program. Here is a link to the
Troop 404 web site.
June 2002: Stetson Makes the Front Page of the Baytown Sun
The Baytown Sun (Stetson's home town newspaper) features him in a front page article on
Friday, June 31st 2002. Austin
Kinghorn interviewed Stetson and wrote a great article.
March 2002: Stetson Featured in March/April Issue of Sport Rocketry
Magazine
Stetson was featured in a 5 page article in the March/April issue of
Sport Rocketry
Magazine. You can download the
entire article here. Be
aware it is a 7 meg file with all of the graphics included. Here is a smaller
34.5k text only
version. Stetson is getting a lot of fan mail since the article, but
it has not gone to his head. He is still the same old sweetheart of a pup.
August 2001: Stetson On the Internet
I originally
posted Stetson's story on a news group, and that is what started all the
interest. You can follow the threads at
rec.models.rockets
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