Dock Diving - what age to start?

[remy]

What is a good age to introduce a puppy/dog to dock diving? A place near me offers a class to introduce dogs to the water and get them comfortable swimming before they officially start diving. It’s just a one time class, then you are allowed to rent the pool afterwards for swimming, dock diving, etc…

 

[LifeofRubie]

I think just getting into the pool is a great place to start! Some dogs, it may take a while to get them just comfortable swimming!

I'm sure whomever runs the facility can help guide you through age appropriate next steps. I know with agility, for example, they really shouldn't be jumping before 15-18 months but there are a bunch of flat exercises you can do to work on foundations. With dock diving, there is certainly the jumping aspect but their landing is a lot different, clearly!

NADD (North American Diving Dogs) has a minimum age requirement of 6 months for dogs to compete.

 

[strykerdobe]

Younger the better just to get them used to the water. Then teaching them to swim.

 

[Rits]

Yep! What they said! It's never too early to get him introduced to the water and finding the ramp to get out.

 

[Rits]

There was a place where we used to live that let you rent the dock and at the time they also had an indoor pool. We only got to use the dock once back then since it was fall/end of summer but that was ok since we really just needed to get her comfortable with swimming. She was only 12 weeks in the dock pics. We started off with having her go in/out off the ramp with Dad in the water but no pictures... just pictures of her being wild and having more fun playing with her towel lol. She went in so we played on the dock after to keep it lots of fun!




Two months later! It took a few sessions to convince her that all the fun happens in the water. She LOVES the water now and if we are at an event and she hears another dogs splash from jumping off the dock, a switch turns on and she's crazy


She did have a life vest the first few months. I would recommend it until they become a strong and confident swimmer. Can't wait to see Remy getting in!

 

[remy]

There was a place where we used to live that let you rent the dock and at the time they also had an indoor pool. We only got to use the dock once back then since it was fall/end of summer but that was ok since we really just needed to get her comfortable with swimming. She was only 12 weeks in the dock pics. We started off with having her go in/out off the ramp with Dad in the water but no pictures... just pictures of her being wild and having more fun playing with her towel lol. She went in so we played on the dock after to keep it lots of fun!

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Two months later! It took a few sessions to convince her that all the fun happens in the water. She LOVES the water now and if we are at an event and she hears another dogs splash from jumping off the dock, a switch turns on and she's crazy
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She did have a life vest the first few months. I would recommend it until they become a strong and confident swimmer. Can't wait to see Remy getting in!

Aw I love the pictures! Hopefully I’ll be able to take him sometime this month. Maybe I’ll start a thread with pictures for his “dock diving journey” I will definitely look into the life jacket! Is there one you would recommend, or are they all kind of the same lol?

 

[LifeofRubie]

Aw I love the pictures! Hopefully I’ll be able to take him sometime this month. Maybe I’ll start a thread with pictures for his “dock diving journey” I will definitely look into the life jacket! Is there one you would recommend, or are they all kind of the same lol?

I would check with your local place as they might have several different sizes you can borrow from during your class/rental time! Especially if you're going with a puppy who will outgrow stuff very quickly. They may also have different brands so you can try before you buy.

The place we go, we just use one of theirs. We don't have our own as we've not needed them outside of class/pool rentals (well, the one time we did 'need' one, our trainer actually let us borrow it for the weekend because she's the bee's knees).

Both my dumb dumbs with their borrowed jackets and you can see in the background on the left, there is something in a size for everyone!



This was a different pool rental and they also had vests to borrow during our pool time

 

[Ravenbird]

So fun to see the dock diving pictures again!

 

[remy]

I would check with your local place as they might have several different sizes you can borrow from during your class/rental time! Especially if you're going with a puppy who will outgrow stuff very quickly. They may also have different brands so you can try before you buy.

The place we go, we just use one of theirs. We don't have our own as we've not needed them outside of class/pool rentals (well, the one time we did 'need' one, our trainer actually let us borrow it for the weekend because she's the bee's knees).

Both my dumb dumbs with their borrowed jackets and you can see in the background on the left, there is something in a size for everyone!

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This was a different pool rental and they also had vests to borrow during our pool time

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Thanks! I didn’t think to ask them if they had any available to borrow!