Dock Diving

The USDAA nationals were in the Denver area this past week. In addition to the agility trials, they had many other dog activities. I took the girls down one afternoon to try some out. My friend Donna went with to help hold dogs and run the video camera.

First up was dock diving.
Izzy went first.  They had the beginner dogs use the ramp that is used to get out of the pool to start out.  I would toss the ball in and let them swim in to get it.  Then, they would use the ramp to get out of the pool (this way they also learned how to get out of the pool after a "dive").  After a few tries of this, we went up to the platform.  The platform is a couple feet above the water, so it's a bit scary for the dogs.  Izzy accidently just jumped right in.  (see video below, and watch the reaction of the nice man that was helping).  When Izzy came up, she had a look of terror in her eyes.  I ran down to help her find the ramp, which she didn't quite locate.  Another nice person that was taking photos of the event sacrificed his dry-ness to help grab Izzy and pull her out of the pool.  After that, Izzy really didn't have any interest in jumping in from the platform.  She did, however use the ramp to go back in.

Heidi  then took a try.  She loved the ramp.  After her tries with the ramp, she went to the platform.  I tossed in the ball, and we encouraged her to get the ball.  After thinking about it for a few seconds, she jumped in.  Heidi was able to find the ramp and get herself out of the water for a second jump in from the platform.  She didn't really get any distance, but she did jump in twice, so pretty good for her first time.

Heidi gets used to the ramp

 

Izzy jumps in

 

After the Dock Diving, we went over to give lure coursing a try.  

The course was setup with short orange flexible fencing seperated by about 3 feet to make a course then weaved around.  There was a wire that went around the course near the ground, and a furry toy was attached.  The dogs then chase the furry toy around the course to the end. 

 

Heidi went first, since she seemed the most motivated.  As we watched, Heidi became very interested in the fast moving furry toy, which we told her was a squirrel.  By the time she got to the start line, she was ready to run.  We got the "go", and released her.  She shot out like a dart and took off after the "squirrel".  She quickly ran the course and finished.  At the end, she decided she wasn't done, so instead of letting Donna get her leash back on, she jumped the fence still trying to catch the "squirrel" (OK, she actually jumped the fence a bunch of times before we caught her).

 

Izzy's turn.  Izzy didn't seem quite as interested in the toy.  I let her go, and she went out about 15 feet and turned and came back.  They moved the toy back and forth, but Izzy just wasn't into it.  We were about to swap dogs to give Heidi another shot at it, and the very nice man running the controls said we could do both dogs at the same time.  Awesome.  We put both the girls at the start line and released.  Heidi took off like a shot after the toy.  Izzy decided she would go ahead and run with Heidi.  They both made it around the course and this time we were able to grab both dogs before anyone jumped the fence. 

 

Heidi said that she would like to try both sports again.