# Dock Diving fail..:(



## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

We tried today at a local event. Tessa was great going up the ramp, practicing, and wading in for her ring. She wanted so badly to jump off the dock. She was poised at the edge, front feet almost touching the water. The helper told me it was fine to nudge her then so I did, she went in and retrieved without a problem. We tried 3 more times but she wouldn't jump. She was fretting so badly about not being able to get to the ring. On the other hand, she has never been to an event similar to that before. I trust her, but wasn't sure how she would behave with all the other dogs. A few times when other dogs were going ballistic she started to bark. I touched her back, told her to sit quiet. She was so good. Proud mama moment..:wub:

If I ever take her again are there any tips, she is ball crazy and loves to swim. I thought it was a perfect fit.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Trying at a local event is pushing her and you did literally it seeks like (if this was the first time ever for her). You have to build her confidence first or else you will get setbacks, which is why she didn't want to jump anymore.
I am sure you didn't learn diving by going from the high dive, pushed by your instructor.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

Just to be clear, we were at the practice time. Not at the event that counted. She is extremely comfortable jumping in Lake Superior and Lake Erie. The difference of this venue was what was throwing her . The experienced helper was the one that suggested the nudge since she was so close to actually jumping. She didn't hesitate, just swam to the ring and retrieved.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

We went and did the same thing today. Midnite did jump in the practice and loved going up and in on the ramp. He was looking for any avenue he could to get his ball, but it was so crowded we couldn't spend much time with it. I was told not to nudge or push him, so I didn't. He was one of the last dogs up out of maybe 30 , he was pretty bored by the time his turn came. I know he can do it and I'm going to practice with him at a pool for dogs that is set up the same way. We will be ready next year. We still had tons of fun


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

We had fun...we'll probably try again.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Keep trying. I have dock dived with three GSDs now and so far only one has jumped off the platform at his first event (and that was after THREE DAYS of playing tug on the platform, going over the ramp, swimming the pool). The previous two flat out refused at their first event, including lots of vocal fit-throwing, despite being perfectly willing to jump off of a dock dock into a lake and swimming in lakes and rivers. Both of those dogs earned titles. The third would easily be titled by now except there were no other events in my area, there is normally a 5-day fair in July but they changed it to June this year.

Normally we start by getting them comfortable going up and down the ramp, then I take them onto the jumping platform and just play with their toy (not go near the edge). I tug, let them do some short fetches if that's what they like, slowly work toward the edge. If they go to the edge, I verbally encourage and praise them. If they are also reluctant to jump off the ramp to fetch, I carry them and set them over the side of the pool at the far end and let them swim to the ramp. Whatever they are comfortable with is what I work with for the first day. Usually I bring a green dog to the UKC Premier so I've got a practice dock and 3-4 days to work on this. When the dog is comfortable on the ramp, swimming in the pool, and playing on the platform I start to focus on the drive. I let them stand poolside and watch all the other dogs. They start barking and screaming so I redirect them to their toy, play tug with it, play keep-away with it and build the drive for that toy while they are standing poolside and hearing all the sounds of the event.

When I want the dog off the platform I try to be quick about it. I've found that the longer the dog stands there thinking about it, the less likely they are to go in. I personally do give my dogs a nudge, but only when they are leaning FORWARD. If you shove them while they are leaning down, they dive in head first and that's not cool. I don't agree with placing the toy right below the platform because in my experience, that has the dog leaning down and he will slip or get pushed in face first which is not how dogs jump. Assuming the dog has drive for the toy, I toss it out to the middle of the pool to get them leaning forward and I nudge them in. I did this with Legend in June and as I nudged him, he launched himself. After that initial nudge he went in on his own. I do not build up running into the jump until later on. The dog should be able to jump at least 10' just standing on the edge and jumping in, so we start there. If they run and then hesitate, it just rewards that hesitation and the run into the jump is not doing any good.

This is Legend at 7 months, on the 3rd day of this event. The first two days he refused jumping, so he was playing fetch on the platform, swimming, and playing on the ramp. Finally on the last day he started leaning forward so I gave him a little nudge and that was that! I couldn't keep him out of the pool! 





This is two months later, jumping off a dock into a lake, working on getting Legend to "track" the toy (watch it and try to catch it). These are fairly short throws/jumps without any running into the jump because the lake was not very deep here (if it were 4' or deeper I'd throw higher, but I don't want to risk the dog jumping more vertical and landing harder on the sand under the water).


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Very good advice, but we had no time to go through all of these steps. People were giving us dirty looks when we went up for the second splash for practice . We had to wait to practice in lines that were at least 15 dogs deep. It was very limited and very rushed .


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Believe me, I know! I only do dock diving competitions twice a year and the first one is the UKC Premier, which is the huge national event with people from all over the country. You wait in line 20 dogs deep. I don't rush my dogs but I do have a plan of how I'm going to approach it if they won't jump off and I work through the steps I described even if that means getting back in line 3, 4, 5 times a day and making a day of it. We do two turns each time you're up in line, so for a dog that won't jump that would be going up/down the ramp and then putting my dog at the back of the pool and swimming out, twice. Or playing a game of tug on the platform and then swimming out, twice.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Also I wanted my young dog to get used to the competition with the loud music, people in the stands, etc. so I did enter him, he just didn't jump. I took him on the platform to play and then set him in the pool and let him swim out. The emcee knew he wasn't going to jump and was good about explaining to the crowd how the dogs are trained.


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## Msmaria (Mar 2, 2013)

My friends dog dock dives at all the local events. However she has a pool and it still took them 6 weeks of practice from a dock ...lol. i wouldn't worry just because your dog didn'tjump the first tries. At least she wanted too.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. She so desperately wanted to go in. I know if we can get her to go she'll love it. Fetch and water together..doesn't get much better than that. We went early to the open practice, just one other dog in line, but since I was clueless we wasted time. We'll go both days and very early next.


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## Blitzkrieg1 (Jul 31, 2012)

I did some at the cottage this summer for fun.
Dog had never jumped into the water before and was refusing entry. What worked was making her miss the tug a few times and then tossing the bumper in the water. 

Held onto her collar until she was screaming/barking for the toy about 10 feet from the edge, let go when she is really pulling. Boom off the dock she went. 

Rinse and repeat. Get the dog vocalizing and frustrated then provide a quick release.

Ofcourse this method does require the dog to have some drive.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Blitzkrieg1 said:


> I did some at the cottage this summer for fun.
> Dog had never jumped into the water before and was refusing entry. What worked was making her miss the tug a few times and then tossing the bumper in the water.
> 
> Held onto her collar until she was screaming/barking for the toy about 10 feet from the edge, let go when she is really pulling. Boom off the dock she went.
> ...


For some reason it's different between lake/pond and pool. Of course they have to love their ball(drive) and enjoy water/swimming. My guys will jump into a lake or pond all day long. It takes some time and practice, having a pool set up like they use to practice would be ideal.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

llombardo said:


> For some reason it's different between lake/pond and pool. Of course they have to love their ball(drive) and enjoy water/swimming. My guys will jump into a lake or pond all day long. It takes some time and practice, having a pool set up like they use to practice would be ideal.


Yep, same here...she'll go into lakes without a second thought. We're heading to Lake Superior next week. I'm going to look for some docks and tease her with her toy.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

ksotto333 said:


> Yep, same here...she'll go into lakes without a second thought. We're heading to Lake Superior next week. I'm going to look for some docks and tease her with her toy.


I've had people tell me this several times. People go get pools because the dogs love to swim and thd dog doesn't bother with it. I have a place about an hour from me that has the pool set up. I'm going to rent that out and bring both of mine. The first time they might not do anything except swim but that is okay. I know mine can do it. There is timing when the toy was thrown and everything. I think most people didn't throw far enough because the dogs were over jumping and reaching back to try to catch it, looked like they were going to break their necks trying to get the toy in the air.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

It's a super common problem. Lakes, docks, rivers, beaches....never a problem for any of my dogs. At a dock diving event, the platform is now feet above the water and the water is clear or the turquoise color of the pool material. Also, the pools are small compared to jumping into a lake, the dogs are up high and can see people and ground on either side.

My first goal is getting the dog comfortable in this setting, doesn't have to mean actually jumping off the platform. I want the dog to WANT to run up onto the platform, want to run up the ramp and get in the pool. I don't even worry about the dog jumping until I have them barking and pulling on the leash to get up on that platform.

Second, I want the dog to jump, but if you're serious about dock diving, it DOES matter how the dog jumps and how you handle the toy. For most dogs, tossing the toy in, restraining the dog, and trying to pump them up for the toy is going to get them in the water eventually but you will end up with a dog that's belly flopping. My 6 year old jumps like this because I didn't know any better and that's how I always sent him in the water. In agility he has fantastic jumping technique and he's also a flyball dog but in dock diving he's never jumped more than 12 feet. His son who I am now training and am more serious about dock diving can already jump over 12 feet just from perching on the edge of the platform because I've been careful about how he tracks and chases a toy.

There are "dry land" exercises you can do as well. It's really what you make of it. If you have a dog that loves it and eventually jumps in, you don't need to train if you want to show up and jump for fun, you can! But if you want to do well, make some progress, and jump safe there are things to do and things not to do.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Liesje said:


> It's a super common problem. Lakes, docks, rivers, beaches....never a problem for any of my dogs. At a dock diving event, the platform is now feet above the water and the water is clear or the turquoise color of the pool material. Also, the pools are small compared to jumping into a lake, the dogs are up high and can see people and ground on either side.
> 
> My first goal is getting the dog comfortable in this setting, doesn't have to mean actually jumping off the platform. I want the dog to WANT to run up onto the platform, want to run up the ramp and get in the pool. I don't even worry about the dog jumping until I have them barking and pulling on the leash to get up on that platform.
> 
> ...


I definitely feel that we accomplished something. Midnite did jump in the first time on the dock and he was pulling towards the ramp and had no issues with that. My golden did not jump off the dock but he was loving the ramp. I do want to title both dogs so I do need to research handling and exercises needed to keep my dog safe. We had fun and I'm excited to learn more. Midnite was very vocal and had people laughing, even though he didn't jump he got lots of good jobs from the kids. A positive experience for him.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I wish we could practice more! I saw this amazing rescue dog available to a dock diving home and passed because we can only do it a few months of the year (and only when competitions come nearby during those months). I think there is a club at a dog park about an hour away from me but last I checked they had crazy vaccine requirements. So we just do some dry land exercises and have to use events for practice. In August we spend a few weeks at a cottage which is amazing although this year the dock was so short that I couldn't really practice, didn't want the dogs getting hurt, but it helps keeping them comfortable around water and maintaining their drive.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Liesje said:


> I wish we could practice more! I saw this amazing rescue dog available to a dock diving home and passed because we can only do it a few months of the year (and only when competitions come nearby during those months). I think there is a club at a dog park about an hour away from me but last I checked they had crazy vaccine requirements. So we just do some dry land exercises and have to use events for practice. In August we spend a few weeks at a cottage which is amazing although this year the dock was so short that I couldn't really practice, didn't want the dogs getting hurt, but it helps keeping them comfortable around water and maintaining their drive.


They just got a new dock, too!! I'm hoping to start teaching some classes there if the club doesn't get active again. They kind of fell to the wayside when Jason started having kids. I don't know what vaccines you do/don't give, but they're pretty standard for most training class requirements, too.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I do 3 year rabies, 3 year distemper parvo. That's it. I'd come down a few times to practice!


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## Tiffseagles (May 12, 2010)

Late on this but I agree with what has already been said. I have one of those dogs that will jump off a dock into natural bodies but not into pools. Unfortunately, I don't have regular access to pool water, so I don't think that will change. I'm going to have to pick what events we go to so that I can make sure they are ponds.

This was her first week on the dock. We practiced 2-3 times/week for the next month and she jumped every single time. Then went to the first event. She ran to the edge, looked in the pool and refused to jump. The point being, don't give up! Pools are a huge adjustment for some dogs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yeNYJ2V2dE


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## BARBIElovesSAILOR (Aug 11, 2014)

Really interesting. Captain has a love for water, and has a really high toy drive. He would play fetch till he dropped dead if he could. He also has a very graceful high jump I have noticed certain times. Husband and I know we want to put him in a sport but not sure what. We were researching and kind of liking the idea of dock jumping or agility. We took captain to a park that had a little agility thing set up. We ran him Through it for fun, just goofing around seeing if he liked it. He did okay, and we even drew a little crowd when he was jumping over the bar thing. When he made a particularly high jump, everyone started cheering! Haha. So I am thinking of taking him to this facility that has multiple dog sports available that you can "try out" to see what your dog is best in. Any advice? I have a feeling he will take to the dock jumping more... But I guess we will see!


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