I have a little 3# girl that "dives" into her water bowl every chance she gets....I think she would dive into the kiddy pool I have for all of them, but she cant get up over the rings...I am thinking of putting a "diving board" over the edge of the little pool and see if Hailee will dive in for her rubber duck! Is this something they will do instinctively, for fun, or do you have to train them to do it?

Well as always isn't it Yes and No? What you actually train is crazy zany toy drive, then water liking/work. If she likes the water already, and is crazy about her Duckie. Then she will go into that pool after it!!! Particularly if you stand back in the pool with the Duckie and throw gently towards her.

We got into this accidentally. Magic took a few months to get "into" the water loving thing. But one day like "magic" he finally got it. All these labs and retreivers in our leash free waterfront park, were going crazy after toys in the water. He was "trained" to be toy crazy first of course on land. Then I tried to get him interested in swimming and the water. Up to that red letter day, all he would do, is get his feet up to elbows wet.

Then one day, same place, same toy, he literally exploded off the beach to retreive his toy in the water! From then there was no looking back.
Then we went camping, and the water place we could swim the dogs, had a "dock". He jumped off that dock with nary a worry to get his TOY!

That is how we started:)

Oh Gosh I don't know, it was just a training day. My hubby said something about 12 feet but I truly don't know as the dives/jumps were not measured that day.

I got all fired up looking at several members agility and dock diving fun, and decided when I retire next year, since we dont show,and I like to keep these "kids" minds stimulated and active, we are going to see who likes to do what and get active!!! I have WORKED all my life....now, by golly, I am looking forward to playing with my babies! I have a huge yard that already has "play areas" set up...I am going to add some agility stuff and start learning how to teach them to enjoy and participate in this! The majority LOVE the water and the kiddie pools and the slip-n-slide, so we are going to do some "dock diving" into the little pools, just to get everyone enjoying the day! I do have a couple that I keep in long coat...just because they are gorgeous pure silk and are practically no maintainance....I will "wrap" them up like you did Razzle gemy, and let them enjoy the pools too!

Hey if you don't wrap now, you don't need to wrap for the pool. Seriously, the wraps can impede their movement, and well why would you need to do that?

It is wonderful you have the space/room in your backyard to put in the pool.

It is so much super fun, look for some groups in your area that do performance sports. Great day can be had for humans and the pups too.

Agility is fun, so much fun, how-ever as you know I have RA and some "off" days. We need to move pretty quickly, well that is if you want to compete at a National Level (one day). So well I stopped the agility. So I am now looking at RallyO, and of course the dock diving.

I so regret, that Magic got injured, and then I had a bad flare. My trainer who is a World Champion obedience, and agility winner; said about Magic when we were first training with him; how far do you want to take him? I said why? She said he has world class potential, are you up for it? I said oh yes if you can train me, I want to do this!!. Okay she said. Here it is; three times a week; follow my training protocol and muscle conditioning in between times. And so we started. My breeder of Magic, said when are you going to get his CD? She started asking this when he was one year old! I said when my trainer says we are ready! And so it went. We had to "deal" with some issues with my very dominant boy. And more, we had to deal with my sloppiness on commands etal.

Finally the day came when Ilona said you two are Ready. Find the closest, soonest Obedience trials and enter. We did. Three days in a row one weekend. I was so so nervous that first day. First day we got second in class. Examiner came over to me, and said what a fine boy you have, but you double signed down (and you didn't need to), you would have been first!. Very well done for a novice. We completed our CD title that weekend, with two first in class in Novice group. Scores out of 200 were 192.5 and 193.5 out of 200. This was the early days before injury to Magic, and before I had my flare. By the way high in trial that wkend was 198.5....

And then we struggled. I am so very sad for my boy. Ilona won't let me compete, until he is well enough. He is not well enough yet, and may never be. ....

Razzle is coming along in his obedience. But we aren't ready yet by a far shot. My trainer and breeder Ilona's beliefs is, when you are ready you go for it. She is so right. Go to the competition, hit it, 1/2/3 tests, then you are done. Maybe you get first in class maybe not, but you nail those scores and pass the Title.

[QUOTE=gemy;3985655]Hey if you don't wrap now, you don't need to wrap for the pool. Seriously, the wraps can impede their movement, and well why would you need to do that?
It is wonderful you have the space/room in your backyard to put in the pool.
Agility is fun, so much fun, how-ever as you know I have RA and some "off" days. We need to move pretty quickly, well that is if you want to compete at a National Level (one day).

Why wrap????!!! Just because I thought Razzle looked so great, full extension, dock diving, wraps flying in the wind!!!!!!! Seriously, I wont wrap!!! And I will NEVER get to compete in agility classes...I have nerve damage in my foot from a hospital bed being pushed over my foot!!! That is why I am in Administration and not at the bedside anymore.... Broke bones and sustained nerve damage....for any long distances, I am actually on a walker!!! I have a big picture of me flying around an agility course on a walker!!! But I am going to have fun in the yard with the dogs, honing up my clicker training skills.... Actually, I am just dreaming...........

[quote=Yorkiemom1;3985741]
Dreaming is great:D But seriously if I can compete so can you! It is a whole lot of work and a whole lot of fun!.

Even in a walker you can do obedience, rally, and for sure dock diving!

Of course have fun in the backyard too; I do understand many folks don't like or want to do competition. For me (shrugs) I just adore competition.

very cool pictures, great action shots, there is one where the yorkie, is so stretched out, it looks like he is trying to get every inch out of the dive. Lola has been diving off our dock because she is frantic to get to her toy, she just started jumping/diving off the diving board at my sisters pool. Only since it is higher I make sure she has her vest on so she does not go under quite as far, since I think that would scare her. I have several questions, is that a ramp that your dog was running down, and do they alow vests. There are some competitions here but I was thinking that most of the small dog categories usually mean dogs up to around 20 lbs which Lola could not compete with, she is about 5.5 lbs. Sometimes Lola just plops in the water other times she does that superman stretch, not sure how you teach them to do the real superman type dive.

i missed this post before, but this is exactly how it started for Lola, she is toy CRAZED and I mean CRAZED about getting to her squeaking toy, she would probably walk through fire to get to a toy. Lola likes to drop her toy places and then retrieve it, like in a trash basket or down some steps. We live on a lake and she started by dropping her toy into the water off the last step that goes into the lake, then she found that she loved running along the shallow edge with it. Once we saw how comfortable she was in the water we lowered our dock a bit and tried to get her to jump off. We started with me standing in the water and throwing her toy up in the air and squeaking it close to her, my husband was on the dock and gave her a few nudges, after the first couple of times of being nudged in, she started jumping in on her own and there was no stopping her. However not all dogs will do this, we worked on my sisters yorkie all weekend and she only went in once or twice for the toy, we had her so worked up over the toy by squeaking it while standing in the water with the toy almost touching her face, she finally sort of plopped in so Lola would not get it, but still would not really jump in. My Aunt's dog will not go in at all. It helps a lot if they are toy driven because that is the incentive for them. Lola must have spent three hours in the lake with me yesterday, I was raking seaweed and she was doing her own thing. She has her own raft which I have on a line tied to the dock, she floats on that with her toy for a while then gets bored so she pushes it off the raft and retrieves it, then she starts running up and down the dock, dropping her toy off the dock then either jumping in after it, or running back down the steps, swimming after it, then running back up the steps and down the dock only to drop it right back in the water, she is is a funny girl and I have to say a bit neurotic about her toy:D I have a few videos, not that great because she gets off so quick, but if I can figure out how to post them I will

Dock diving competions...
 

Dogs don't compete by size/weight but fall into different divisions based on how far they jump. ex Novice is up to 9'-11', junior is 10' - 14'-11' etc

There is a lap dog category besides that tho for dogs who are 17" or less at the shoulder (which to be is still too big to give toy breeds much of a chance)

for complete rules, see either dock dogs or ultimate air dogs (rules differ slightly between the 2 organizations)

Wow 9 foot is the shortest distance, and I think Lola is not even 10" tall, LOL I think all her diving will just be for fun then. Thanks for the info

don't be discouraged; my morkie is about 10lbs and 10" high and she managed to jump over 9 feet at her first competition

= )

and you don't have to go over 9'11", you are just judged against anyone who jumped less than 10 feet. You will see a lots of bigger dogs sail right past into another category, or basically fall off the dock when they are learning and only register 4 or 5 feet. There's also a good chance no smaller dogs are jumping in that range at all and you could still end up with a title and/or ribbons... = )

If you look closely at the pic, he was beside the ramp, not on it! That picture was taken on the "down" portion of his jump. His little legs were pumping trying to "catch" the toy.

Vests are allowed in training probably not in competition. And for sure use the vest in training until your dog is really comfy with jumping two feet off the water.

Superman stretch you don't teach it, but you can set up the dog for it. Toydrive; wanting to push for that toy! As the "thower" ideally you send out the toy (this is for a distance jump) just inches above and in front of their nose. Then they "STRETCH" and REACH for that toy. It takes both of you practicing. Another way to pump her up; you need a partner for this; they hold your dog in place back from the end of the dock. You go to the end. You say with huge excitement in your voice... READY, READY? GO!!!!!!!! then your partner releases the toy, and you Throw it.

if I am understanding correctly for the stretch you hold the toy close to their nose and then keep moving it away further into the water. I notice with Lola, if she thinks the toy is to far for her to jump she will not try to get it, and if it is to close when it hits the water she jumps she plops on top of it. Her range is so varied that i am having trouble figuring out the ideal distance to throw the toy. I do it both ways I stand in the water just below her and sometime move further away. the water she jumps into is only about two to three feet deep. occassionaly I will stand on the dock , Where do you stand, and thanks for the tips

For dock diving you do want to get up on the dock with your dog. If your dog is Okay with jumping in then that is where you stand. In the beginning you might be in the water and get "her" to jump to "you". But once she has confidence in jumping off the dock; then up you go onto the dock with her.

Alright Where I have stood with Razzle and this is when he is so so excited he can't keep into a stay. Is right by him, holding him, maybe 3 or 4ft from the end of the dock. Then I do the excited are you READY? Ready? GO! At the same time I say GO, I release the toy. He chases the toy all the way off the dock. In reality he is chasing a toy, and doesn't care if he leaps off the dock in the process.

So what you want to do is set up the "scenario" where the dog is chasing the toy; it just happens to be off a dock;) As the toy is in the air, it does start to drop, and that is what the dog sees and then they naturally leapt for it.

Don't throw the toy out too high, so that she is pausing to look up to see where the toy might land. Instead throw the toy, just a few inches above her nose, and beyond her nose and try for distance with the throw. Not too fast, not too slow a throw. You can practice throws on your own. So that you have muscle memory of what to do.

If you look at Magic's picture in this thread you will see an example of what I mean. How-ever That toy should have been ideally in front of his nose so that he wasn't turning his head to "catch" it. He is in ultimate full extension to "catch" his toy.

I hope this is clear.