How to Get Started

Where to Begin!

We are so excited that you want to learn more about dock diving. Here is a little information about dock diving and how to get started!

First off! If your dog is scared of the water or has never been in the water, in the famous words of Bob Marley~ DON’T WORRY!

We are here to help! We have lots of options to get you started.

We offer group classes, private lessons, or you can rent the pool to work on it!

When someone is starting new we always recommend that you take an swim lesson. This will set you up with one of our Certified Canine Swim Coaches and together you will get your dog in the water and create a training plan to help them advance into an All-Star Dock Diver!

After your Introductory Lesson you can schedule additional private lessons to help with your dog’s swimming technique, advance them to the dock, or getting them ready for their first competition.

You can also join a group class.

How to Train:

Since all dogs are at different levels when they begin, it is best to chat with your coach at your orientation session to decide what your next step should be.

Step 1: Master swim technique and navigating the pool. Try our Private Swim Lessons!

Step 2: Once your dog is launching from ramp begin to show foundation techniques to launch from dock.

Step 3: Once your dog is 100% confident launching off the dock begin to critique stride, throw, targeting, and conditioning. Try a Dock Diving Lesson!

Step 4: Begin to introduce other disciplines and further advance foundation work. Troubleshoot areas that need attention. Master throw and targeting. Try our Dock Diving Class

Step 5: Practice your new learned techniques and get ready for some more fun! Rent Our Pool!

And you are off to competition!

Learn About Dock Diving and the Different Disciplines.

We compete with the two main organizations in Dock Diving. dockdogs which has several competitions locally throughout the year and North American Diving Dogs (NADD) which earns you AKC titles.

The Dog Pool is a sanctioned dockdogs facility so we spend most of our time concentrating on their four disciplines:

• Big Air is the most popular discipline. This is the competition where the dog runs down the dock and launches into the water. The jump is measured at the base of the dog’s tail where the tail meets the rump. dockdogs uses a video camera system that takes the exact measurement of where the base of the tail hits the water. The World Record is held by a Whippet who hit 31 FEET!
• Extreme Vertical is a discipline that was originally used as a training technique to get dogs to jump bigger for Big Air. This is where a dog will jump off the end of the dock reaching for a toy that is suspended in the air and land into the water. Dogs are getting closer to hitting a World Record of 9 feet high!
• Speed Retrieve is like a doggie drag race! A toy is suspended at the end of the pool. The owner sits the dog around the 20 foot mark on the dock, when the light turns green the dog is released and runs down the dock, jumps into the water, and swims to get their toy. The dog is timed and the timer stops when the dog successfully pulls down his/her toy. In 2017 a dog complete his speed retrieve run in less than four seconds!
• Iron Dog is the fourth an final discipline. You guessed it. Iron Dog awards points to each discipline the dog completes successfully. At the end of the competition the points are tallied and the final sum is the dog’s iron dog score. It is so fun and rewarding to get your dog to Iron Dog Status!