Dock diving?

I'm not entirely sure that this is the right section for this, and if its not, mods, please move it to the appropriate section.

Doom loves water, and a few weeks ago at Aaron's sister's wedding, (yes the dogs attended, it was THE coolest wedding ever, they asked people to bring their dogs!!!) Doom found that he also likes jumping off docks to get things out of the water! We weren't throwing things in until later, but he'd go in after a stick or whatever and swim back and climb out and then jump in again.
SO what I'd like to ask is how do I go about getting him into a league or whatever you would call it. Does anyone know if there is anything like this in the Macomb area (McDonough county in general, really). I'd love to get him into something and I think dock diving would be great because he's so toy motivated!!

[MafiaPrincess]

Dock dog events are listed at http://www.dockdogs.com
A league? It's an on your own sport.. do you mean your looking for a practice pool and a club to chill out with?

A practice pool would be nice before I make an idiot out of myself competing with no experience. lol
Thanks MafiaPrincess!!!

[Dekka]

I entered Zo today.. she had never done it. Came in third and almost made the finals.

Lots of dogs didn't jump... don't worry about looking like an idiot

[MafiaPrincess]

I dig.. That's why I didn't enter either of mine today. I doubt they'll jump without practice.. Hopefully Dekka and I can coax one of mine in the next month to do it.

I'd look at current and past events and see if any are even sort of local.. practice pools are still a fairly new thing. We only just got one locally this summer. I want dogs that jump before I shell out to use it though. I'm hoping to use Dekka's pond. It's a ways from edge of land into the water. Any local natural water around you could scout out?

Possibly, but I think people fish there and wouldn't be too happy with a big ol' mutt jumping into it. lol

[lizzybeth727]

I have a friend who teaches dock diving classes, he has a pool he uses for practice lessons (PM me if you want his info), and he says that many dogs who are very good at jumping in the water in lakes and rivers still have a very hard time jumping into a pool - the water's clear and hard to see how far down from the dock it is, and it smells very strongly of chlorine. So, I guess, practicing in fresh water is better than nothing, but that could be why many dogs don't even jump off the dock when you get to the competition.

[HoundedByHounds]

Check UKC's site...tons of info there.