Indoor Dock Diving Practice with Raleigh and Iggy!
This weekend we got the opportunity to practice dock diving with our pups at The Paw in Mankato. The practice time came along with a one hour coaching clinic with Tom Dropik, founder of SportMutt, Inc.
The clinic was geared to focus on getting the most distance out of a dog that is already successfully jumping. We found the training to be invaluable, as we almost immediately saw improved performance from our dogs!
For Raleigh, we learned that we needed to focus more on keeping her driving all the way through the end of the dock – she had been slowing down considerably towards the end of the dock, often in anticipation of us throwing the toy. To do this, we moved her start position a little bit forward so that she is closer to the optimal 5 strides of running prior to the jump. Additionally, we threw the toy immediately upon releasing her so that she had no reason to slow down in anticipation. As she gets more comfortable with driving all the way through, we will start to throw the toy later and later so that she’s ultimately able to follow the toy off of the hand.
These tips had an immediate improvement, as Raleigh really fell into a groove of running to the end of the dock at full speed. She even appeared to be out-jumping Iggy, which was unheard of last summer!
We also learned that Iggy needs to be trained differently than Raleigh. Raleigh was a bit more cautious and focused on the toy, whereas Iggy’s problem was the exact opposite – he tended to focus more on bombing off the edge, and didn’t give the toy so much as a passing glance. To help him, we were instructed to hold the toy until he was a little less than halfway down the dock before throwing it. This helped to keep his head up and watching the toy, and unleashed his natural chase instinct. Even still, we need to work at home on increasing his toy drive – playing tuggy, tossing it for him to chase, and keeping the toy away from him except for special occasions.
We noticed with Iggy’s progression of jumps that he was starting to rear up and jump with better form. While this doesn’t necessarily lead to more distance immediately, it provides the foundation for improvements to be made as he grows more confident and driven to chase the toy.
In addition to enjoying the practice time, we were also thoroughly impressed with The Paw’s facility. The area in which we were practicing included an indoor, dog-friendly pool and a dock that can be lowered from the ceiling. It made for a great place to escape the bitter cold and have some fun with our dogs!
We’re now anxiously awaiting warm weather so we can get back out there and keep practicing. And judging by how exhausted our pups were last night, I think they are too! Check out the video above to see a couple of Raleigh and Iggy’s practice jumps!
You mean there are indoor playground kinda things for dogs where you live? EVER LUCKY! Now, bein’ a cat, I would – OF COURSE – rather stay at home and nap, but if I were a dog, I’m sure I’d LOVE a place like that. purrs
There is so much more to this than just jumping in! I had no idea. You guys are amazing and fearless. I can’t jump of the three meter board at the pool 😉
I love the video! Their jumping skills are very impressive. Our dog Ruby hates water so not sure there are enough treats in the world to get her to give this a try. It sure looks like fun!
I never knew there were indoor parks for dogs! What a great idea. Looks like your pups are having a great time.
How wonderful you were able to practice inside. I’ve probably read this in your other posts, but I forgot – is the purpose of the dock diving to go the longest distance or to capture the toy or both?
Okay this is so cool!! My dog loves to swim but after jumping off a dock to catch a bird and failing once she is no longer interested in jumping off just wading in, but I would love for her to do dock diving. It’s a shame because she loves jumping off things too. Congrats on all of the progress you’re making with both of them!! I can’t wait to see how far you’ll come along next!
Things like this make me wish we lived in a bigger city! We do not have anything like this in my town. I have no idea how my dogs would take to the water let alone diving but I bet little Link would LOVE this!! So cool thank you for sharing this experience!
The video is great! I had no idea there were indoor training centers for dock diving. It sounds like you really got a lot of constructive tips in your one hour session! I look forward to seeing some outdoor videos soon.
I love watching dock diving on TV but had no idea how much goes into it. Much more than a dog chasing a toy into the water. But they always seem to be having so much fun I’m not surprised how tired your dogs were! Sandra and Dolly
Your dogs are having so much fun…this is the only time I have considered moving to MN just for Gusto’s opportunity to have more fun…lol
I have several friends that do dock diving and it does seem like it would be fun! However, not too many Siberian Huskies are fond of water. I do not know if any of mine would be interested in it. I may have to take Yoshi and Echo to try it out.