Dock Diving
Does your dog love water and love to retrieve? Then you should know about the sport of dock diving. Here’s how to safely introduce your dog to it, and where to find groups and competitions.
Bob Ryder, PMCT, CPDT-KA
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Dock Diving
“Daisy, ready? Down … stay … good girl! On your mark, get set, GO! Run, run, run, run, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, GET IT! (Houston, we have lift off, and … splash down!)”
I’m Bob Ryder, sitting in for Jolanta Benal in The Dog Trainer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Teaching and Caring for Your Pet. I run Pawsitive Transformations Dog Training in Normal, Illinois, and I’m here to share a fun activity my dog Daisy and I enjoy whenever we get the chance – dock diving. (No scuba equipment required!)
Dock diving is a canine sport in which dogs are enticed to run the length of a dock and leap as far out into the water as possible. They’re motivated to fly with a prized toy thrown tantalizingly just out of reach to keep their momentum going and help get the best launch angle. Of course it’s great to see dogs enjoying themselves in a fun activity, and jaw-droppingly awesome to watch gifted canine athletes in full extension soaring through the air. (Cue the theme from Chariots of Fire!) What’s in it for the dog, you ask? Well, some likely just enjoy the chance to splash in, swim a little, and grab that toy. Others seem to relish the hang time, stretching themselves as if to reach for every last bit of height or distance they can get.
Some dogs love to splash in the water and grab that toy. Others seem to relish the hang time, reaching for all the distance they can get..
Daisy, my joyful Yellow Labrador Retriever, seems to enjoy both aspects of the game. Her breeding inclines her to love the water in the first place. One day on vacation, a tennis ball drifted out into a pond after my wayward throw during a game of fetch. Daisy, leaped off the dock, retrieved the ball, and dropped it at my feet to continue our game. This time, I deliberately tossed it a few feet back into the water off the dock. Daisy flung herself off the dock with a running start! Hmmm – time to experiment with my dog!
I had seen dock diving competitions on TV, and it was easy to put together a few skills Daisy already had to make it into a fun new game. Daisy has a great down-stay, and can handle lots of excitement while holding out for her release cue. With a little practice, I got better at tossing her toys to help maximize distance – as you’ll see in this video. If the self-control of a down-stay is too much for your aspiring dock-diver at first, have a friend gently hold your dog’s collar or – better yet, her harness, while you walk to the edge of the dock and make ready to throw the toy. You might want to do a couple of dogless rehearsals with your friend so she or he knows exactly when to let your Zippy go.
Want to give it a try? Here are 5 tips to make it relatively safe and fun both for you and your budding athlete:
Tip #1: Make Sure the Water’s Deep Enough
Of course, you want to make sure the water is deep enough to accommodate a splash landing without crashing into shallow rocks, mud, tree branches, or other debris. And choose a dock that’s only a couple of feet above the water. Two or three feet is plenty. (In official competitions, the dock is usually only 2 feet high.)
Tip #2: Make the Dock a Fun Place
Have some fun with your dog on the dock before inviting her to jump. Associate the platform with happy experiences, such as cueing a few easy tricks she’s already good at for tasty treats. Hand targeting or puppy push-ups are good possibilities as they won’t end up with your pal accidentally falling into the water. Apply lots of warm praise and gentle petting, too – if your pup enjoys being petted. Go and play with your dog at the water’s edge, as well, tossing a favorite toy and letting her chase it just a few feet out into the water. Remember, keep the mood happy! The goal is to have fun – so do!
Tip #3: Build Your Dog’s Confidence
Next, build her confidence about jumping off the dock. Some dogs can do this with no hesitation, while others need a little time to build up to their first plunge. Take some more practice at the water’s edge if need be, throwing the toy for your dog to run into the water after it. But by all means, (and this is crucial) let your dog choose to jump at her own pace. Pressuring her, or worse forcing her off the end of the dock before she’s ready (yikes!) is a sure fire way to teach your dog to hate dock diving, and probably to hate water in general. As Jolanta reminds us regularly, slow and steady wins the training race every time, as you can see in this video with Daisy’s friend, Willow.
Tip #4: Be a Good Citizen
I don’t need to tell you to make sure you have permission to use the dock, and to obey local leash laws, do I?
Tip #5: Make Sure Your Dog’s a Good Swimmer
Finally, please be sure your dog is a good swimmer. Many dogs with short legs and/or massive upper bodies just can’t swim well no matter how much they might want to, and a dog of any breed – yes, even a Labrador Retriever! – may simply not care for the water. If that’s your pal, pick another sport that she’s more inclined to enjoy.
Winning Isn’t Everything – and It Sure Isn’t the Only Thing
One of my favorite things about dock diving is that, like agility, it really is a dog-and human team sport. Both partners need skills that contribute to success. And almost anyone can do it, even with a tiny little dock that slopes down and doesn’t look official, such as the one in this video.
In some official competitions, teams are scored on variations including horizontal distance, vertical leap, and the fastest retrieve. But – and I love this – you don’t need to have any previous status in the sport to participate. You can just find an event within traveling distance, sign up, and be a part of the fun. Daisy and I plan to take part in our first official competition this year. Two of the organizations I’ve found that move their competitions from place to place are Splash Dogs and Dock Dogs.
Winning isn’t all that important to me, and it’s a safe bet the dogs are clueless about the measurements of their dives or their standings in comparison to other dogs. For my part, the only requirement is that Daisy is happy and confident – values I first heard articulated by agility trainers extraordinaire Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh. If Daisy and I are both having fun, that’s all that matters. But some teams are very competitive, practicing every day for months, maybe even all year long if they live where weather permits and have access to a dock. If you and your best friend are driven to be the best, and you can have fun and be safe in the process, why not let it fly? Maybe you’ll end up on ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games.
You can email me at bob@pawstrans.comcreate new email, and look me up on Facebook under Pawsitive Transformations. Jolanta is The Dog Trainer on Facebook, and you can write to her at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email. She welcomes your comments and suggestions, and although she usually can’t reply individually, she may use your question as the basis for a future episode.
Thanks to Jolanta for inviting me to guest host this episode, and thank you for listening. Now go find a dock and start building that hang time, baby! On your mark, get set…
Dock Dive image from Shutterstock