# Dock Diving?



## hirosmom (Nov 8, 2007)

Has anyone done this with their Golden?
I wanted to get Hiro into a hobby because he has so much energy and he LOVES jumping, playing fetch, and water so I thought it would be fun... 
I just dont really have any idea where to begin (Im in Washington if anyone knows of any organizations or anything too I looked into Dock Dogs, but they havent wrote me back about training stuff lol)


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## Bob-N-Tash (Feb 24, 2008)

*Dock Diving*

I shot this photo last summer at dog camp. Not my dog, not a GR, but a good example of dock diving. 

I'm not a trainer but let's see if I can give you a few pointers. 

First, does your dog like water? Swimming? I know, your dog is a GR so it sounds like a stupid question... but if either of the above answers is no you should first get your dog accustomed to the idea of getting into the water. 

If you dog already swims the next trick is to get the dog to leap off the end of the dock. That starts with a favorite toy.... something irresistable... a tennis ball, a squeaky, whatever. Starting about 10-15 feet from the end of the dock get your dog interested and excited about getting the toy. Use your voice, squeak the toy like mad, whatever it takes to get fido in the chase mode. And then run to the end of the dock and throw the object..... if the dog is sufficiently aroused it will follow the toy without hesitation. After the first dive it gets progressively easier.

The trainer was working with this yellow lab. My dog was standing in line waiting her turn. She loves to swim and was thoroughly aroused. When the toy was tossed in the other dog hesitated at the end of the dock. In that moment Natasha broke out of my grasp and dove in and was swimming after the toy. At this point the yellow lab jumped in but by then her toy was nowhere to be found..... so she grabbed the long green floating distance maker that you see in the photo and brought that back to shore.


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

that looks like fun!!


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## Bob-N-Tash (Feb 24, 2008)

*She who hesitates loses*

Found the photo of Natasha and the Yellow Lab....Sally


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Labs rock at it... Goldens can too. We have one here that does it... Quiz!


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## Bob-N-Tash (Feb 24, 2008)

*Divin' Ivan*

Even Ivan the bulldog jumped off the end of the dock....


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## hgatesy (Feb 14, 2007)

If you get into it you'll have to keep us updated. I have an "unofficial" dock diver. I'd love to start running through dock dogs... but the closest group is about two hours away. There's a competition in two weeks that we're going too, as you can have your dog try it... we thought we'd let Park have a go at it.


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## HovawartMom (Aug 10, 2006)

Great shots of all these doggies!.Would love to try it,too!.


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## hirosmom (Nov 8, 2007)

These are great pictures!!! We're gonna take him to a lake this weekend and see if he'll jump off the dock 
We have a competition coming in March I think (maybe April- Puyallup fair  ) and maybe I can get him to do it by then - I want him to try though!


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Saw the dock diving dogs at the pet expo 2 weeks ago and it was a blast watching them. They will let you try it with your dogs if you sign a waiver. We didnt try it with Bama though because he is still young and not to sure of the water closing on him just coming out of the sprinklers. Good luck in the training.
There is a member here that has a dock diving dog and is in competitions. I cant remember their name though.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Hi!

Quiz dock dives... in fact, he made the Semi Pro Finals last summer at a Splash Dogs event in San Diego, jumping just over twenty feet! 

I've been looking into Washington as a possible future relocation spot. There's a group in Puget Sound. www.pugetsounddockdogs.org. Hope that helps!

Stephanie & Quiz


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## ILoveAMonster (Nov 11, 2007)

Well, just reading this post got me interested...i do believe that Monster and i will be joining a local group, soon.
i'm excited.


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## Tailer'sFolks (Feb 27, 2007)

This thought I had was...Parker...Glad you posted that last picture of Parker...that's the one that came to mind when I started reading this thread!! Good Luck!! Tailer hesitates at the end of the dock and kinda just steps off...I hope this season he will get into the Leaping of the dock mode!


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## hgatesy (Feb 14, 2007)

That's how Park started out too.... he'd step off and go completely under. He figured out though. Tailer will get it down! I think it really helped to get Park really excited... and then he'd just GO!


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## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

Jersey's gradually improving his ability to get from dock to water. We go once a year up to our neighbors' lake house (they own a pup from each of our 2 litters) for a big doggie play date. The first year we went up, Jersey avoided the dock at all costs... he would climb down the rocks (which they usually climb up to get out). Last year he did this pathetic little slide/flop into the water a few times. He was definately a little bolder though. Hopefully this coming summer I can get his confidence up a little more. You'd think he'd just follow the other 4 dogs :doh: but I guess I'll need to do a little one-on-one and really get him wanting to chase that bumper!

Julie and Jersey


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## Bob-N-Tash (Feb 24, 2008)

Natasha's diving has improved a lot now that Bob is here. Nothing like another dog swimming toward your prize to take away that last bit of hesitation. To date Bob does not jump in the pool, but I believe that will happen in the near future.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

My girls dock jump! Maxine has 4 Novice titles. She is the QUEEN of stop and drop! She blasts down the dock and then slams on the brakes and drops in. Teddi had potential. She jumped 11'6" two weeks before her first birthday. We LOVE this sport. 

Any dog can play. They don't have to jump big the dog doesn't know the difference. Come out and try.


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## Sassy Girl (Sep 19, 2008)

Dock jumping is highly addictive!!!! Every dog but one of our dogs in our household competes in dock jumping! It's a complete family affair for us. 

Here are some shots of our dogs and my favorite Golden - Renegade who is owned by a good friend of mine Wendy. 

Our Border Jack - Vandal - top jump 17'9"









Our McNab/Pit - Aries - top jump 24'3"









My staffy bull - Twiztid - top jump 7'6"









My border collie - Gunner - top jump 25'









Renegade - my favorite golden retriever - top jump 21'11"


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## Higgy (Jul 16, 2008)

We will probably start this next season, Trux is 5 months now and is pretty good on our dock. He still needs to be coaxed in , (unless he falls off), but once he is in we throw his toy and he retrieves it. We figure by the time the spring comes next year he will be bigger and more used to the dock and water.

I would like some links or info on training/events for this sport in my area if anyone can help!

Thanks


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## hgatesy (Feb 14, 2007)

Hi Higgy... 
You can check out www.dockdogs.com and also www.splashdogs.com to try and find some local events in your area. 

On the dock dogs website there is a forum that has clubs in different areas. I think the Delmarva Club is the one that covers the Maryland area. 
I know the dock dogs schedule for 2009 isn't up yet... but there's quite a few events down Maryland way. Two that we went to this year were in Bel Air and Adamstown. Not sure about splash dogs... we've never been to any of their events.


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## Susan6953 (Jun 9, 2008)

Thanks for the Puget Sound link, I live in Washington and am thinking about trying that when my puppy is older.


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## dannyra (Aug 5, 2008)

I live in the middle of nowhere and unfortunately it doesn't look like there is a club within 300 miles. From what I found on a quick search, the dock is 40ft long, 8ft wide and is 2 feet above the water. The pool is a minimum of 4ft deep.

This would be a fun little project for next spring. I'd be tempted to put a 4ft **** on the creek at my house just for this if it wouldn't get me in gobs of trouble.


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## spruce (Mar 13, 2008)

guy that puts on dock diving at some of the event in Puyallup (Sportsmans Show for one) has classes. I forget his name - I keep thinking Tony Hawk. But I found him on internet when looking for trainers and he responded to me. 

my lap (great swimmer) will only wade in; Bridger (our only dock diving hope) isn't really athletic


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

spruce said:


> guy that puts on dock diving at some of the event in Puyallup (Sportsmans Show for one) has classes. I forget his name - I keep thinking Tony Hawk. But I found him on internet when looking for trainers and he responded to me.
> 
> my lap (great swimmer) will only wade in; Bridger (our only dock diving hope) isn't really athletic


I think it's probably the Splash Dogs Tony you're talking about. www.splashdogs.com Can't think of his last name, but he's a great guy.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Sassy Girl said:


> Dock jumping is highly addictive!!!! Every dog but one of our dogs in our household competes in dock jumping! It's a complete family affair for us.
> 
> Here are some shots of our dogs and my favorite Golden - Renegade who is owned by a good friend of mine Wendy.
> 
> ...


Ren is cool! I met them year before last at Wags for Wishes in San Diego!


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## ObsessedGoldenGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I have 3 goldens that LOVE Dock jumping - you can also try UltimateAir.com. They are also a participant with UKC, so if your dog is registered UKC they can get Dock jumping titles when Ultimate Air has a UKC registered event. Going October 18 & 19 to Oyster Bay NY then another in November in Edision NJ, They have these Expos in the winter and there inside so my guys get to swim WOO !!HOO!!


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## kgiff (Jul 21, 2008)

We had the opportunity to go last weekend and had so much fun! We only did one wave and had 3 practice jumps. The first practice jump we couldn't get him to jump in, but by the time it was our turn in the wave I was practically dragged up to the dock. Yeah, I think we might have to do it again.


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## Sassy Girl (Sep 19, 2008)

It might be Tony Reed - but he does not offer classes....Tony runs Splash Dogs (dock diving event organizer). I would definitely jump on some of the message boards for Splash Dogs, DockDogs and Ultimate Air Dogs to see which one has a contact to help you out. You don't need formal training, you can go to a competition this weekend and compete - your dog just needs to jump off of the dock - that's it. 

Each of the organizations are newbie friendly - there are always loads of people at the events willing to help a new dd'er out.


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