Last weekend Freighter had the chance to try dock diving. This time of year we are always looking for ways to exercise the dogs. When we were invited to a fun day at a dock diving facility, we figured why not. This was the first time we were trying this, so we decided to leave the seniors at home and just take Freighter.
For Freighter’s first attempt, he used the ramp to enter and exit the pool. The dogs use the ramp to exit the pool, so Freighter needed to know where it was.
Water. Bumpers. Freighter says he is in.
Then it was time to go onto the dock. Hubby tossed the bumper and…screech….full stop.
I guess the height of the dock and clear water looked a bit intimidating. Then Freighter had a bit of an inner battle over how much he wanted the bumper vs. how intimidated he was by the dock.
The bumper won.
Freighter got several chances to try. Hubby and I were surprised at how physical this was. Freighter did not care about any of that. He just knew it was fun.
If we did this again, we would probably work on Freighter powering off the dock. He jumped the hunt test way where he slowed and sprang off the dock toward the bumper. He would get more distance if he did not slow. I think that would come with practice, but we do not have plans to purse this competitively. It is just something fun for exercise.
Has your dog ever tried dock diving?
wow Freighter that looks great… I would probably act like the whimpy kid efurrybuddy had in da class… entering the dock, standing around like a monument for hours and after all look bored away reverse gear and escaping from the dock with mach 2 ;O)
It definitely looks like Freighter had a great time! We’ve never tried this because Barley HATES to get wet and right now Rye is busy with agility and barn hunt, so our calendar is full–I think she’d have a great time with it, though. What a fun day for you and Freighter!
Bailie tried it, but she would not go into the pool at all. I guess some dogs don’t like pools if they are used to water in lakes. Freighter seemed to be enjoying it!
looks like he did a great job to me! Nope, no dock-diving here, not a Sheltie “thang”
What a fun day, great pictures and exercise!
This is the one thing I have always wanted to try with a dog….it looks like so much fun!!
The kid is catching some serious air! I wished we knew about dock diving when Dakota was younger, she would have been great at it. She loved jumping as far as she could, and would even dive to retrieve sticks under the water.
We adopted a 7 year-old German Shepherd. Her sister is a dock diving champion. Her nephew does search and rescue. Lumen’s job, though, is taking care of her boy. And she is quite good at it. She is everywhere my son is. One of our dog parks has a dock for diving, but some of the dogs that use the park are questionable health-wise, so we haven’t tried it ourselves.
I worry about all the chemicals they put in pools.
I would, too. Especially with a Chessie coat. I didn’t know that there were places besides actual docks that offered dock diving. We had the world championships here last year.
I have seen the tanks at some dog shows. I have to be honest though. I am just glad Freighter was not a wimp and jumped off the dock. 🙂