I took Crash and Cricket to a local boat dock to have some fun and to practice their dock diving techniques. The following are the videos of their practice sessions.
Crash uses the place and send technique. I throw the toy in the water a few inches further than he can jump. He then runs and jumps into the water trying his hardest to land directly on the toy. It is important that with this method that the dog lands right on or right in front of the toy so their efforts are rewarded! Crash uses this method because it is similar to his flyball training and because he is not confident enough to do the chase method.
Cricket uses the chase method. The idea with this method is that the dog runs toward the handler and as soon as they get to the end of the dock the handler tosses the toy up and out over the water giving the dog a nice "pop" off the end of the dock. Cricket is still in training and is new to this method (as am I) so she is not given much running distance. I want her just to focus on the toy and follow it properly before I giver her speed. As you can see from the video how well she jumps is in direct relation to how well I throw the toy. So we both have some practicing to do!
Interested in getting started in dock diving!? Check out:
Dock Dogs
Splash Dogs
Sarah Cross, CPDT
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