Week 3.1

The speed events offer many opportunities to practice parts of the sequence in dryland training, and teach them the game well from scratch or make BIG improvements to your dog's time!

First let's look at what a speed game looks like.

• The dog starts at a designated place on the dock.
• The bumper is already suspended at the far end of the pool
• Typically the handler is restraining the dog. The dog should be visually 'locked on' to the bumper.
• In some leagues, the dog must be released at a certain signal, and in others, they start on their own. 
• The time starts at a designated point (either a predetermined signal, when the dog crosses a certain plane on the dock or leaves the dock, depending on the league) 
• The dog jumps into the water- it is advantageous to jump as far as possible since speed through the air is faster than speed through the water.
• The dog swims to the suspended bumper.
• Dog removes bumper from the clip or magnet rigging -In some leagues the time is stopped at this point
• Turn back towards the dock
• Swim (fast!) towards the ramp
• Time stops at some designated point in the water
• Exit pool
• Get rewarded (toy/play)

This is an example of a speed game in the Xtreme Air Dogs league. The dog must start somewhere behind the 20 foot mark on the dock. The time starts on the final high-pitched beep noise and no part of the dog can cross the 20 foot mark before that beep sounds. So the goal is to have good handler timing on the release- have a dog that definitely knows where the bumper is and hustles towards it, grabs it and turns back quickly, and then hustles back to the dock. This particular dock setup is not ideal as the dog had to be physically captured as soon as they made it up onto the ramp and there isn't a lot of space for reward play, but you get the general idea. At the end of the clip, you hear the judge say 'that was awfully close to a false start' (which means it was a really good start!)

In the video above Pickle has a very respectable run! To make improvements on his time, I focused on his startline behavior (did you notice how he was anticipating the start and lunging a bit?) and the moment where he grabs the bumper and turns, to tighten that up.


Below is Hydrodash- the NADD speed game. The big difference is that the dog must start in front of the 10 foot line on the dock (or ahead of the 7 foot line for small dogs), the time starts when they leave the dock, and the handler can choose to start whenever they like- there is no pre-determined start signal. On the training end of things, it's very similar!

In the next video, you'll see a dog with similar athletic ability to Pickle but who is really solid on his startline behavior and has a really snappy turn. Isolating those skills in dryland training has paid off!

Here is a hydrodash scene that isn't uncommon with new dogs. They don't see or don't understand where the bumper is, and circle around expecting to see it in the water. Watch her body language as she jumps as it is clear even from that point that she isn't focused on the bumper:

Ideally we want to prevent this, by training the dog to look out for the bumper on cue and visually lock on to it. And make sure that she is actually seeing it before releasing her for her jump.

Here is the same dog when she is locked on and actually ready!

Much smoother! Now she needs some work on her bumper grab- she could easily improve by about a second by making a snappier turn at that point.

Below is a video of "Dueling Dogs'- a Dock Dogs event where two dogs compete in their speed retrieve event at the same time and the fastest dog wins. in this game, the time starts on a light signal, just like in flyball racing- and the time ends when the dog grabs the bumper completely off of it's rig, so there is no incentive to have a fast return from a scoring perspective (I would still train it though, so that your dog was well prepped for entering speed games in other venues). There is a whole new level potential for distraction with two dogs jumping at once!  Riesen, the lab in the far lane, gives a picture perfect performance from how she is locked onto the bumper on the startline, gets a very clean and efficient start, great jump, fast swim and then a crisp yank on the bumper  to stop the clock! 

Grabbing the bumper reinforces the big jump and quick swim. By the nature of the game, most dogs do these things fairly efficiently once they understand the basic gist of it. We can help make that happen better by working on the pieces.

Rewarding the dog on the dock reinforces everything that happens after the bumper grab. This is the part where most dogs have the biggest room for improvement because it is often not trained (with the exception of dogs who have been trained for flyball and are already used to pretty much this exact pattern!)

This week we are going to focus on breaking this pattern down and teaching the individual components that we can work on in a dryland capacity. If your dog is new to this game, they will learn a lot! If your dog has some speed-game experience, you may find that working these exercises helps close gaps and improves their personal best.

We will specifically look at these key points in the speed game sequence where we can make some great progress:

• The bumper grab and turn at the end of the pool
• The striding for the take off
• Speeding up your dog's return

We'll also look at some conditioning exercises that specifically build power in your dog's rear, since they will need that to get a big jump with few strides!

And then finally, I've got some tips on how you can take what your dog has learned in dryland training, and transition it to the pool, in a step by step way so that you can give your dog the best chance at learning this game without issues like circling or confusion!