Dock diving is a sport that is fun for any water & retrieving loving dog. Many competitive dog sports are mainly for purebred dogs, but not dock diving. Pictured above is my dog Sam at a dock diving competition in 2007 when Sam was about 6 yrs old. Sam loved to play ball fetch & loved to swim, so this sport was a great match for him. I think we competed in the sport for 2-3 seasons, but honestly can’t recall exactly. We stopped after Sam had some really bad seizures & he didn’t pounce back as fast & I was concerned to be away from his Vet till we had things under control. The group I competed in also started to just host events only inside & Sam didn’t like the overhead lights reflecting on the water & he won’t jump. Sam had his novice title & was 1-2 legs into his Jr title when we stopped competing.
I always loved to see the proud & happy look on Sam’s face when we got his ball & swam to me.
There are different events (called discipline)within the sport of dock diving:
- Big Air: dogs run down a 40 foot dock & jump as far as possible into a pool chasing a toy. The item that is used varies, but there were rules that the item could never have been alive which included sticks. Some people used a ball, a Frisbee, a bumper toy, a special decoy duck or floating toy. Big Air is measured from where the base of the dog’s tail breaks the water. There were sometimes cameras to confirm & usually a couple judges watching from each side. The pool has the distance marked off on the sides of the pool. 0-9’11” is Novice, 10′-14’11” Junior, 15′-19’11” Senior, 20′-22’11” Master, 23′-24’11” is Elite & 25’+ is Super Elite. Each dog is given 2 chances in each wave & the longest jump is recorded.
- Extreme Vertical is an event where a bumper is suspended 8 feet from dock & 4’6″ to as high as a dog can jump. The dog jumps from the dock & grabs the bumper or knocks it off. Each dog is given 2 chances in a wave.
- Speed Retrieve is an event where a bumper (back when I competed a special duck could be used instead of a bumper) is hung at the end of the pool. The dog is set at the 20 foot mark on the dock. When signaled the dog is released & runs down the dock , jumps in, swims to bumper & pulls in down & timer stops. 2 chances in each wave (or heats) & the faster of the two, is the official score for the wave.
Sam enjoyed lake jumping the most & I think it might have been one of his first competitions. The group of dock diving people I got to know were a nice group of people & one of the ladies had a lake at her house & she invited a group of us to go out there & practice. Sam was the retriever dog, if a dog let his toy go & didn’t retrieve it, I was given permission to send Sam to get them. He would try & carry 3 & 4 toys at a time, which he really couldn’t do, so I would have to convince him to come back & then send him out again. Sam didn’t have that big of a mouth, but he did fit 3 in there at times.
One of the guys in my group had an official dock diving pool at his home & he used salt & not chlorine so it was safer for the dogs. Once he had a practice day at his home & Sam got to try the Speed Retrieve discipline & he did extremely well. I then got the special decoy duck from a special sporting store, & sadly never got to use it because we quit not long after. Maybe someday I will.
Dock diving & all the disciplines that are part of it are fun to watch & I enjoyed making friends when we competed. I didn’t find the people to be concerned that your dog might beat theirs, maybe a few people, but over all people were supportive & helpful.
The event at the lake was a part of a pet event & Sam was asked to wear a vest & walk around collecting money for canine cancer. He was a friendly dog so we were good with helping & it gave us a chance to see all the booths & things for sale there.
Someone had a handheld radar machine for speed & they clocked the dogs running down the dock & the ticket cost you a donation to canine cancer. Another cute way to help with canine cancer research.
Some of the dogs I used to see at events were Labs, Golden Retrievers, Border Collies, a long haired Dachshund, mix breeds, Newfoundland, & some terriers. There were many others, but again I can’t recall all & I mostly remember were the ones I knew the owners of.
There is a fee for each wave & 2 jumps are in each wave. How soon you jump again in a wave varies on how many dogs are in the wave. Waves were divided into notice, junior, senior, elite & super elite groups. Dogs need to get their novice title before they can move into the Jr level. If I recall it took 3 legs (3 waves)as a novice then moved to Jr level. Sam had his novice title & 1or 2 legs into his Jr title when we stopped competing.
It has been quite a few years since I have been involved in dock diving so some of the rules may have changed. Kids can compete with their dogs, I think they need to be accompanied by an adult on the dock if under the age of 7. This is a sport that I have seen senior humans & senior dogs in good physical condition compete in. Dogs must be at least 6 months old, but many who I knew didn’t recommend till 9 months due to bone growth & muscle risk. They believed working on retrieving on the ground was good practice & swimming.
Dogs that compete need to be tolerant of other dogs (not aggressive), many people don’t like their dogs too close to others because their dogs are excited & some get snippy when the adrenaline is high. This is usually a sport where dogs come fairly close to other dogs. Dogs that you plan to compete in this sport need to love water & love to retrieve, at times Sam wore a bandanna that read “Come on, Throw something” My dog Sydney loved the water too, but she didn’t like some guys & some dogs, dock diving dogs need to be good with people. If the next dog I have fits these parameters I will look into what is involved in competing in the sport in my area at that time. I enjoyed competing & making friends who were also into the sport. It is a fun sport to watch even if you’re not entering a dog in the events. If you are involved in the sport now or in the past I would love to hear about your experience.
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