I have searched for dock diving classes in our area and have been unable to find any, so for right now, Bella and I are just having fun with it. (Mari shows ZERO interest) My aunt and uncle live on a lake so luckily we have a place to "practice." Here are some videos of Bella's attempts at dock diving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcBRSyS7zEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qV2CxEF3ho

The one BIG problem I see is that she stops at the end of the dock, waits, and then jumps. How do I get her to run off of the dock? I am sure you experts see other things wrong too and I would be open to any and all suggestions. :thumb4:

Well, Molly is a scared little freak so we can't use her as an example. With Maggie I just kept throwing stuff into the river, over and over and over and over and over again, until she began to become de-sensitized from her fear of the take-off. It just took a lot of repititions for her.

My problem now is that she has no compunction whatsoever about jumping off a 10-20 foot embankment into a body of water.

What a great place to play in the water!!!

Sorry - I have no tips.

Maybe get her some of those red swimming trunks? That kid with those trunks didn't have any trouble going off the dock! :funny::funny::bounce::floor Just kidding.

The only thing that will cure that is time and practice. If you continue to let her jump and jump and jump, she will hesitate less and less. Soon she'll be going off the dock just fine.

I've noticed that when they are first learning, some dogs hesitate a little, some a lot, some none at all. It just takes some longer to adjust than others. But she'll come around.

Also, are you putting her in a sit/stay several feet back and letting her run up to the edge? Are you standing at the edge with the throw toy? Hold the toy down low....right at her eye level and wait until the last minute to throw it. In other words, make her think she's going to take it right from your hand, and then she might just follow it on out over the water.

Don't throw it....gently toss it. Your goal is to keep it as close to her nose and mouth as possible. You want her to concentrate more on "I want that toy" than "uh oh, here's the edge of the dock."

Does that make sense? Good luck....dock diving is a great sport! :thumb4:

Put some peanut butter on it and let her sniff it first.. :wink:

Maybe get her some of those red swimming trunks? That kid with those trunks didn't have any trouble going off the dock! :funny::funny::bounce::floor Just kidding.

The only thing that will cure that is time and practice. If you continue to let her jump and jump and jump, she will hesitate less and less. Soon she'll be going off the dock just fine.

I've noticed that when they are first learning, some dogs hesitate a little, some a lot, some none at all. It just takes some longer to adjust than others. But she'll come around.

Also, are you putting her in a sit/stay several feet back and letting her run up to the edge? Are you standing at the edge with the throw toy? Hold the toy down low....right at her eye level and wait until the last minute to throw it. In other words, make her think she's going to take it right from your hand, and then she might just follow it on out over the water.

Don't throw it....gently toss it. Your goal is to keep it as close to her nose and mouth as possible. You want her to concentrate more on "I want that toy" than "uh oh, here's the edge of the dock."

Does that make sense? Good luck....dock diving is a great sport! :thumb4:

Thanks Nancy! That makes a lot of sense. That kid in the ORANGE (he LOVES orange and would be upset to know that someone thought they were red :p:) is my "little" cousin Kev. He loves my two...

Jason, if a ball isn't going to get crazy Bella off the dock, pb definitely won't do it. :rolleyes:

Jason, if a ball isn't going to get crazy Bella off the dock, pb definitely won't do it. :rolleyes:

So give it a shot and let me know how it goes. :p:

I have no tips but it was cute!

ChocolateDawg has some good ideas. The hesitation could be one of two things in my mind. First: confidence, as the dog becomes more confident it will improve. In the mini vids I could not see if a toy is being thrown. Most competitive dock types have one toy the dog is NUTS for and it only comes out at competitions. My second is the dogs personal jumping style, much harder to change. My golden Max is the Queen of stop and drop. She loves to play but we can't change her jumping style.

Your dog jumps very well. My advice is just keep playing and try different settings if you have the opportunity. Perhaps if an event comes near you enter or at least go and try to practice. Entering usually guarantees you time on the dock though. Open practice can be limited if entries are high. Jumping into a competition pool is different.

I am fortunate to have a floating dock, a practice facility, a dock and lake, and my in laws, all places I can go play with my dogs. Not to mention we have 3 events in a row coming up starting the weekend of 6/14. Now if I could just figure out why my lab WON'T jump I would be all set. She jumps at the settings listed just not in competition. So I play with my golden young'un.

Have fun! That is the biggest part. I think your dog is jumping very well.

She actually does have a nice jump. Just give her some time. Let her get used to just playing. Then you can start on the technique! Nancy made a great post. Get her really excited for toy and toss it out there.

Thanks everyone!

A tennis ball was being thrown (Bella's prized possession) but I wasn't sure where to hold it or when to throw it. It all makes sense now! I'll post an update once she is running off the dock. :)

My problem now is that she has no compunction whatsoever about jumping off a 10-20 foot embankment into a body of water.

I have this problem with Midas :rolleyes:

The only thing that will cure that is time and practice. If you continue to let her jump and jump and jump, she will hesitate less and less. Soon she'll be going off the dock just fine.

I've noticed that when they are first learning, some dogs hesitate a little, some a lot, some none at all. It just takes some longer to adjust than others. But she'll come around.

Also, are you putting her in a sit/stay several feet back and letting her run up to the edge? Are you standing at the edge with the throw toy? Hold the toy down low....right at her eye level and wait until the last minute to throw it. In other words, make her think she's going to take it right from your hand, and then she might just follow it on out over the water.

Don't throw it....gently toss it. Your goal is to keep it as close to her nose and mouth as possible. You want her to concentrate more on "I want that toy" than "uh oh, here's the edge of the dock."

Does that make sense? Good luck....dock diving is a great sport! :thumb4:

:thumb4: Good info. I think that the sit/stay helps to get the excitement up. I like to put mine into a sit/stay then hold the toy out to them, some call this "freezing". I wait until I see them catch their breath and lean forward (the anticipation of release) and then I give them the OK.

The throw technique is fun and relatively simple to teach. Check out the dock diving sticky I wrote and follow the link for The Chase - it is a step-by-step how to teach the throw and I've used it, it works! :) This will also help you to direct how she jumps, high or flat etc.

I also use "special" toys for when I want them to be serious about jumping. I use bumpers or sticks or whatever when we're just playing. I use a special tug or a Water Wubba for when they're expected to jump. They know the difference. The excitement when the "special" toys come out really helps their distance :)

The throw technique is fun and relatively simple to teach. Check out the dock diving sticky I wrote and follow the link for The Chase - it is a step-by-step how to teach the throw and I've used it, it works! :) This will also help you to direct how she jumps, high or flat etc.


:D :D Falon I am not so sure I agree with you. "Simple"??? :confused:I have been trying to get that timing thing down for ever! It is probably a me thing. :thumb4: :D

One last thing with Bella, maybe try a "bigger" toy like a bumper or something. Most of the dock jumping people say dogs have hard time seeing the ball once it is thrown. Just a thought. Most important...just have fun! Oh it doesn't hurt to be all excited and silly too. Some of us make a fool of themselves on the dock to get their dogs attention...who me?:p:

:D :D Falon I am not so sure I agree with you. "Simple"??? :confused:I have been trying to get that timing thing down for ever! It is probably a me thing. :thumb4: :D

One last thing with Bella, maybe try a "bigger" toy like a bumper or something. Most of the dock jumping people say dogs have hard time seeing the ball once it is thrown. Just a thought. Most important...just have fun! Oh it doesn't hurt to be all excited and silly too. Some of us make a fool of themselves on the dock to get their dogs attention...who me?:p:

LOL, oh I don't mean simple to do correctly, I mean simple for the dog to grasp what you're doing. It didn't take long to teach either of mine to reach for the toy - but I still only throw maybe 50/50 right. :o:

One thing about bumpers - Midas did ok when we were using the classic bumper, but it wasn't until we switched to Katie's Bumpers or the Water Wubba that he really started to fly - he likes something softer to snatch. I found the other bumper would occasionally bounce off his mouth and he did not care for that. I recommend buying several and seeing what she does the best on.

LOL, oh I don't mean simple to do correctly, I mean simple for the dog to grasp what you're doing. It didn't take long to teach either of mine to reach for the toy - but I still only throw maybe 50/50 right. :o:

One thing about bumpers - Midas did ok when we were using the classic bumper, but it wasn't until we switched to Katie's Bumpers or the Water Wubba that he really started to fly - he likes something softer to snatch. I found the other bumper would occasionally bounce off his mouth and he did not care for that. I recommend buying several and seeing what she does the best on.

:D :D :D
Dogs LOVE wubbas with the dangly tails!!!! I just can't throw those worth a d---!

One thing about bumpers - Midas did ok when we were using the classic bumper, but it wasn't until we switched to Katie's Bumpers or the Water Wubba that he really started to fly - he likes something softer to snatch. I found the other bumper would occasionally bounce off his mouth and he did not care for that. I recommend buying several and seeing what she does the best on.

This is so true. I also change up throw objects with Sally. I'll use a bumper, and then a wubba, and then another bumper. We just got her a DFT, and she LOVES IT!!!!!!! :thumb4::thumb4::thumb4::thumb4::thumb4:

I'll check out different stuff...

Bella is a fetch snob though and really won't fetch unless it is a tennis ball. We'll see!

Air Kong has larger tennis balls, some that squeak too. They also have bumpers that are tennis ball material. That being said has Bella ever played with a wubba? Dogs REALLY like wubbas.

Air Kong has larger tennis balls, some that squeak too. They also have bumpers that are tennis ball material. That being said has Bella ever played with a wubba? Dogs REALLY like wubbas.

The bigger tennis balls with squeakers are a GREAT idea.

She did have a wubba...she chewed it up. :rolleyes:

Meg I think you just need to personally show her how it's done.

Meg I think you just need to personally show her how it's done.

Ya know Ray...I feel like I am having deja vu. :p:

LOL, oh I don't mean simple to do correctly, I mean simple for the dog to grasp what you're doing. It didn't take long to teach either of mine to reach for the toy - but I still only throw maybe 50/50 right. :o:

.

Me too! So we don't do the chase anymore. Jubilee jumps like three feet farther because my throws were so terrible! I just let her see me throw it out there...she spots it, I get her all riled up and then I bring her to the back of the dock, give her a cadance and let her rip. She does much better without my interference although she doesn't get to POP like other dogs. It also doesn't help that we have nowhere to practice.

Ya know Ray...I feel like I am having deja vu. :p:

I can't imagine why.

I've found that repetition worked best for my dogs. At first he wouldn't even jump off the dock now I can't keep him on the dock.. lol

Meg - Since Bella is partial to tennis balls, you could always try these. The nylon strap makes it easier to throw and it goes farther.
http://www.petco.com/Assets/product_images/4/4258378936C.jpg
http://petco.com/product/12282/Ruff-Toys-Tennis-Ball-with-Nylon-Strap-Dog-Toys.aspx

We use those as Loder's "special" toy. We break a hole in the ball so it will sink - he knows they are his diving toy. He'll jump for Wubbas but when he sees his dive toy, he goes nuts and does jump farther. For competitions though, we don't break a sink hole in the ball.

Thanks Becky!

Funny we use to have one like that and a certain yellow dog decided it didn't need the black strap anymore.