DS120: Fly Farther: Dock Diving Skills and Strategies
Course Details
Dock diving is a sport with unlimited opportunities to fine tune your dog’s skills and your own handler strategies! But when you only have a limited amount of time on the dock each week to practice, how do you make the most of that time?
This class gives you a blueprint system to address all of the common issues in dock diving dogs, as well as strategies for correctly introducing new dogs to the pool or advancing more experienced competitors to the next level. If you are new to the sport, need help troubleshooting, or have a dog with a lot of potential that you want to advance smoothly and thoughtfully, for best results in dock diving- you’ll want this class!
Lectures cover common introduction strategies: To the pool, to the dock, to each type of specialty event in dock diving. They will provide troubleshooting plans- both to help you understand what is causing an issue such as early take-offs, hesitations, or slips- and specific plans to solve those. By popular request, this class addresses considerations about over-arousal while waiting or moving TO the dock, or while being held/staying. You’ll also find strategic considerations that can help build your dog’s confidence, power, and jump size. And you’ll learn how to make the best use of practice time at the dock, at the lake, or at home- in order to actually progress your training rather than mindless jump after jump with no real purpose. Preserve your dog’s body and mind -and your pocket book- and make each jump count in a way that is more fun for both of you!
To make the most of this class, you’ll want access to a dock with good traction once per week during the 6 week class term. A half hour rental slot at your local dock diving pool or a trip to your lake, if the boat dock is safe to jump from, will give you more than enough time to get your dog’s training in with some maintenance training that you can work on between pool visits. Should you have more regular access to a pool or swimming area during the class, you could certainly make use of those too.
Teaching Approach
This class offers a hybrid approach- with the bulk of the instructional lectures released all at once at the start of the semester as a basic blueprint guideline. Students will have the option to work through each lesson, which comprises of written instructions and video demonstrations, or get guidance and specialized help with troubleshooting a particular issue. Supplemental lectures may be added throughout the term, inspired by students with progressions or problems that require a unique approach.
Erin (she/her) is a lifelong dog enthusiast from Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. Erin is certified as a Karen Pryor Academy Training Partner, a Certified Profesional Canine Fitness Trainer, a Licenced Family Dog Mediator, and as a Cani-Fit Leader, ...(Click here for full bio and to view Erin's upcoming courses)
Note: this class is VERY suitable for gold and silver level students with unusual dock diving issues, and additonal lesson plans can be tailored to dogs working at that level.
This class is best suited for dogs who have already been introduced to swimming, and have a strong interest in retrieving toys. Previous experience at a dock diving pool specifically is not required. Dogs already training and competing in dock diving will find a lot of value in this class with troubleshooting lectures designed to fill in foundation skill holes, and improve individual skills for better jumps.
Access to a Dock- to make the most of this class, you'll want to be able to access a dock that is safe for your dog to jump from at least once per week (half an hour-a longer time slot is not better unless you're sharing time with other dogs). This could be a competition dock diving pool, a boat launch, or canine swimming facility. Pool/dock do not need to be competition length- we can adjust for that- but we do need appropriate traction that will not be slippery when wet. You may be able to bring portable turf or matting to a local lake dock to make it usable if no other options are convenient.
Floating toys that your dog enjoys retrieving. For distance events, use whatever toy your dog prefers and is easy to throw. I recommend checking your competition leagues to ensure you are also training with any toys that are mandatory for specialty events. Depending on the league, this may include:
Dokken Double String Foam Bumper
Nerf Competition Stick
Atlas Air Retrieve Bumper
Some exercise will make use of a couple of pool noodles placed over a firm rod (pool net handle, etc)
The dog's startline behavior and position has a huge impact on their striding, and their resulting jump.
The goal is to have a dog who is stationary on the startline until released, with their initial stride being powered by their REAR end. Being rear-powered ensures the most powerful initial stride possible, which helps with acceleration and consistent striding, and reduces the odds of slipping as the dog launches forward. It also ensures that dogs who are accelerating very quickly over only the short distance allowed by the dock will be able to readily to collect themselves when it comes time to take-off just a few strides later. This is true whether the dog is in a stay position, or is being restrained/held by a helper.
Problem: The Scramble
In this scenario your dog is either not waiting for a release cue, straining against the holder, or maybe sporadically anticipating the release and is lunging forward. Not only does this make it harder for a helper to hold the dog, this forward scrambling means the dog is definitely not powering from the rear and is getting very inconsistent striding. If the handler lets go at the wrong time, the dog's almost lands on their face or has to take a number of awkward short strides to regain their balance. And, when the striding is different each time the dog runs down the dock, they can't develop a striding pattern that allows them to get those big, powerful jumps on autopilot- the changing strides means each time they approach the end of the dock, they have to think about, or be aware of, where their feet are in relation to the edge. That makes it awfully hard to get good power and it makes it super hard to chase and catch a toy. We want consistency!
Scrambling happens when the handler is inconsistent with the release cue, when the helper holding the dog doesn't have a good predictor of when the release cue will happen, or when the dog is not able to wait until they are cued to go (lacking skills or over-aroused).
The Fix: The key here is to time our release cue so that we are marking the behavior we want: which is the dog stationary with their weight shifted back.... and not while the dog is in motion, pulling or lunging forward, or weight shifted into a vulture like position.
do not release your dog if they are leaning forward or in motion
ask for, or watch for, the backwards weight shift (sit, or head lift) BUT- not backwards MOTION
mark that weight shift by giving your verbal release cue at that moment
Here's an example:
This dog is Mando. He's on his 3rd dock diving lesson, but the first one this season, and he LOVES to swim and retrieve. During his lessons last season, Mando had a really hard time facing forward towards the pool. His go-to move was to run ahead of his handler, turn and face her (and the ball!)- and she worked hard over the winter to make it valuable for him to face forward and accept handling to help with that. But, he still wants to look back at her (and the precious toy) so I asked her to throw the toy into the water, but wait to release him until after it landed. Uh oh! Mando didn't want to wait once the toy was in the water and was scrambling forward while his handler gently tried to restrain him. See him leaning forward into his harness and she lets go:
The timing of the release is not going to help our cause here- Mando is moving and leaning forward- he wants the toy, being release gets him the toy- so we are accidentally rewarding the scrambling.
On the next repetition, I ask Mando's handler to throw the toy in, but pause- wait until he stops scrambling, they cue him to sit (so that his weight is fully shifted onto his rear)- and then release. She cues the sit by touching his butt, and then away he goes!
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Mando really wants that toy and he starts to figure out that we are shaping him! Within a couple of turns, he is mostly holding his sit in a much calmer manner- and while looking forward at the toy. Now we increase the criteria- we are looking for him to intentionally shift his weight back, which you can visibly see by watching for his head to lift. Giving your release word and physically releasing your dog when they offer that extra bit of a weight shift is exactly what is going to improve the power in their initial stride- needed for consistency in striding and powerful take offs (and makes that startline more clear also!)
Watch for the detail in the slow motion part of the clip- that tiny head raise- that's when we want our verbal release cue to happen so that we are reinforcing the weight shift.
You can tell if your dog is really powering from the rear when they take that initial stride, because you'll be able to see both front feet raising up off the ground during the launch. Here's another look in slow motion from a dog who is in a sit stay. (Also watch for that tiny head raise!)
The weight shift will continue to grow more solid as you become consistent with the release cue and restraint will not be required. This is something that you can also train on dryland, where your dog is less likely to be over aroused- you just need a toy.
In a teamwork situation, where there is a thrower, and a holder, the person holding the dog needs to be able to predict the release cue timing accurately so that they can let go the moment the thrower gives the release. Even just being a half a second slow on this, if the helper is taken by surprise, means the dog may have started to move before the helper has let go- this sends mixed messages to the dog, which degrades the marking power of the release cue. It also means that the moment the dog is physically released, they may already be putting some forward pressure onto the holder person- which means the dog is not able to power forward properly and may result in inconsistent striding or that little bit of falling forward action when the handler does let go.
Each handler/holder team can come with some way to communicate with each other or create a predictable pattern so that the holder is literally letting go as the thrower cues it. Some of my teams say Ready, Set, Go with consistent timing. Another team decided it was easier if the person holding the dog cued the release sequence. Choose a pattern that works for you and allows everyone to know exactly what is happening and when.
Team Fern in the video below has a release cue system where the thrower says Ready, the holder says Set, and then releases the dog as the thrower says Go. The pattern makes it really crisp for the holder to let Fern go at the right time- but Fern also has learned the pattern so she's not flailing around wondering when she'll get to run- she knows she'll only go on Go!
Homework: Let's assess your dog's starting position, and make sure that the release cue is reinforcing the behavior we want! Show me a video of your dog's startline (please ensure the sound allows me to hear your verbal release).
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Instructor: Erin Lynes
