CELEBRATION, Fla. — After Clementine hit the water 21 feet, 8 inches from the dock at the Big Air quarterfinals, her handler's whoops could be heard over the blaring rock music coming through the sound system. The jump was not nearly far enough to push the team into the next round, but this is the way Nadja Palenzuela always greets her wet partner — a rescued stray nearly one-third the size and weight of her competitors.

The Burns family of Fargo, North Dakota found the Australian cattle dog abandoned at a local lake and called Palenzuela, a 35-year-old architect and architecture professor who they knew was involved in canine sports. Palenzuela had planned to help the family find a home for the dog, but she took one look at Clem and decided to keep her.

Then, one day she saw Clem leap about 14 feet off a dock going after a ball. "I thought, wow, that's really cool!" At their first Big Air competition in 2003, Clem placed 4th out of 160 dogs. At 17 inches and 28 pounds, Clem is the smallest dog to ever jump over 20 feet in competition. The pair placed 4th at the Dock Dogs National Championships to win a seat at this summer's Great Outdoor Games.

"I love to tell Clem's story," said Palenzuela, an active advocate of dog rescue. She believes dogs like Clem get abandoned because they are hyper. "They just need a way to let out the energy," she said. "Big Air has been the perfect outlet for Clem. At the end of the day, she'll crawl into my lap and go to sleep."

Among a field of 11 Labrador Retrievers and one Chesapeake Bay Retriever ranging in weight from 53 to 75 pounds, tiny Clem was truly an anomaly at the Great Outdoor Games. She was one of eight dogs from a pool of 12 to advance from the qualifying round with a jump of 20 feet, 9 inches before losing a head-to-head contest with the competition's leader, Sisko, in the semifinals. Minutes after it was all over, a glowing Palenzuela summed it up best: "Clem has proved breed and size don't always matter. She's all heart."

The Games will be aired on ESPN and ABC Sports July 13-17, 2005. Click here for the broadcast schedule.

This article on the Great Outdoor Games 2005 Web site is brought to you by the editors of Field & Stream and Outdoor Life. For more information, visit www.fieldandstream.com and www.outdoorlife.com.