I was thinking about competing with Piper in dock diving when she is older. Anyone have any info on how to get started? How early to start? How to properly introduce the water so that she will learn to love it? Thank You! (I couldn't find a DD forum, or any water sport forum so I am posting here.)
Long answer Our first Lab, Ginger, was unusual, in that she would not jump off anything to get into water. She would walk in and swim for miles, but she refused to step off a dock that was at the water level. When we canoed, she would get half way out of the boat, and we would pick up her rear and drop her the rest of the way in. She was really happy swimming but really wanted to walk into the water. When Tilly was about a year old, we took her to a Cascade Dock Dog training session. They had a puppy dock and a regulation dock. Tilly was quite happy to jump in the water, but she always sort of paused to see if there was still water in the pond before she jumped. We worked on a both docks and she always ran down the dock and then looked to see if there was still water there before she jumped (especially on the big dock which was about 3' off the water). She would get 5 or 6 ft. while the dock dogs would get 20 + ft. She also got an ear infection after her first trip to the pond so we never went back there. We did practice on other docks but she always had to look before she leaped. We decided not to bother with Cooper. She will jump off a dock at a run, and would probably be good at it, but we decided we had other games that were more important to us. As far as how to start, your pup needs to be comfortable swimming and willing to retrieve a dummy in the water. Retrieving tennis balls in the water would be a good start. If you google dock dogs you may find a club close to you. There are several in the Pacific Northwest, but I don't know about the rest of the world.
I would leave it until she is at least a year old, maybe even 18 months, to ensure her growth plates are closed. Otherwise, you risk injury that could stay with her throughout her life. I would just have her out and about near water, don't try and force the issue, but see how she reacts. All three of mine adore water and enter with gusto. The older two, Willow and Shadow, will both eagerly jump in from a dock, but they wouldn't at first, and if I had pushed it, they probably wouldn't still now. They were both slow burners who didn't swim until they were nine months, and even then weren't massively keen. My puppy, Luna (10 mths), has loved swimming for months, is completely gung-ho and would absolutely throw herself off the side if she was allowed, but she's not going to be given that chance until she's finished growing, for the reason above.
I'm afraid I'm not keen on the idea of dock diving. The impact of hitting the water must have an affect on a dogs joints. x
I don't think hitting the water is going to be as hard on the joints as normal running. The dock is only 2' above the water. My dogs jump on to hard surfaces from greater heights. Incidentally our first Lab, Ginger who would not jump off a dock into water, would jump off a 6' high bank, on to a road. I did not like it, but she did it more than once in her life.
It's really no different to sending your dog into the water for a retrieve from a low river bank... Sports like Agility would be much harder on joints, where the dog is jumping heights out of tight turns, at speed, on firm ground. Very hard on all joints.
I don't do running with my dog either for the very same reason. High impact exercise is not good for joints human or dogs.
I think that a big issue is recovery time. High impact is ok as long as there is enough time between events for everything to recover (assuming fitness and age aren't issues). Problems arise when that doesn't happen. But I really don't think that dock diving poses much of a problem...
I suppose its about personal choice. I prefer not to take the risk. A dogs life can be chancey enough as it is I prefer them to have a low risk life.
