Is the equestrian center Tryon International? If so Ultimate Air Dogs was there and I would give them a try! They have practice splashes you can do where for a small fee you can bring your dog to try it out. Tell them you are new and someone will help you out. You only need one handler and a good sit stay but in UAD you can have two unlike other companies. Theres all kinds of challenges other than having the furthest jump, and divisions for each challenge so even if they don't jump far, you still can title in whatever division he lands in. UAD reports points to UKC for most events, so long as you check the box that they do when signing up. They also have their own titles should you not want to register. It wasnt too expensive and Java is UKC registered. They are super friendly and helpful in UAD and thats the only one I have personal experience with. We stopped dock diving because at the time the events were far away(not anymore) and getting very expensive between that, lure coursing and barn hunt so we focused on barn hunt after Java got two titles in DD. You pay for each splash. I recommend signing up in advance online for a discount.
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Dock Dogs as far as Ive seen is typically much more competitive and serious but I could be wrong. This is what you will see on TV and last I checked it was only one handler.
For practice really its 90% handler throwing abilities. Practice underhand throwing a bumper with a nice arc. You can practice at home with Brinks on his toy tracking by setting him in a sit stay, walking away a few paces, release him (most say GET IT GET IT GET IT so they KNOW when to run) and pop the toy slightly up in the air in the direction he is running (no higher than two front feet off the ground). Keep the toy low in his eye sight THEN pop it up and in front to encourage him to engage his rear and pop up too. Gradually increase how much you pop the toy up and
out and know when to stop for ground training. Continue further and higher distanced with water only! If he catches the toy, even better. Then he knows the toy is within grabbing distance and will want to go further for you even easier.
In UAD they also have another challenge (besides the standard jump) where the jump only counts if they catch the toy and then the jump distances are added. Another one is the bumper is suspended in the air and the distance is increased out over the pool (never higher, Milt the founder of UAD found this dangerous, dogs were smacking into the bottom of the pool). Last but not least is the swim competition where the bumpers are at the end of the pool and two dogs run down the dock, swim to the end as fast as possible get the bumper. Last I knew they had a net to keep the dogs on their sides. The dogs are so in the zone they dont care. You can pick one, two or all of these. Whatever your heart desires and your wallet can afford LOL.
If you can find a dog center that has practice and training that would be awesome. We didn't have any of that here so we just practiced at a local dock at a park.
Whenever he is on the deck with me and I pick up the hose to water my flowers, he gives me that look of, I don't trust you with that thing!
I bet that boy would do well though as much as be loves the water.
The crazy part is when I typed that I thought it didn't feel right so I checked it. I still saw 23.
