Dock Dogs

[Marty & Sherry]

Our kennel club had a fun day this last weekend & dock diving was one of the activities. As neither Emmy (Cairn) or Mac (Westie) had ever really been in water we didn't know what to expect. I took Emmy first. I used a tennis ball as her retrieval item as she has BOCD (ball obsessive compulsive disorder). I was teasing her with it, bouncing it, rolling it around, etc. to get her attention when she grabbed it turned around, ran and jumped off the dock into the water with the ball in her mouth! Needless to say that made her the star of the event. Crazy dog. She ended up jumping off the dock three times. The problem was the tennis balls are too big for her to get in her mouth in the water. She was swimming around in circles trying to get it until we had to holler at her to come to shore.

Mac jumped off the dock once. He went so far under I thought I was going to have to jump in for a couple of seconds. I think he just liked swimming around because he was a little stubborn about coming to shore. They both sis go in several times off the bank to get the ball. Emmy kept wanting to jump in after the duck decoys the had out there too.

We also had doggie baseball. We had to run to first base & do a down. Run to second base & do a sit while we yelled "How much is that doggie in the window, this doggie is not for sale". Run to third base & do a sit, down, sit, then run back to home. I ran Mac & Sherry ran Emmy. They tied for second at 40 seconds behind a BIG English Setter at 37 seconds.

We were also on the winning team in the hot dog relay. That one is where you run with the dog between you legs while holding a hot dog out in front of them, drop that hot dog in a bowl, pick up another one & run back the same way. Fun stuff.

It was a great time & fun was had by all both human & animal.

[kjwarnold]

Sounds like loads of fun! We've got a Dock Dogs officially sanctioned event coming up here at Lake of the Ozarks this weekend. We'll be going to watch but Packy and Kirby won't be competing. While Packy LOVES water and swims and fishes daily, he doesn't jump off the dock, only the lower platform. Kirby is a great swimmer but isn't as wild about it as Packy. And I'm glad, because that let's us close the gate on the dock and relax with them out there without worrying that they're going to jump in after a fish or duck. But sounds like your guys had lots of fun and were show stoppers!

Those relays and games sound good. We're in an Advanced Obedience class with Kirby right now and they always play games at the end of each class, which reinforce the commands we've learned. We do relays with our dog in a heel, holding a spoon with a marshmallow in it with our leash hand. We have to run to a bowl at the other end of the room, drop the marshmallow in it (without the dog eating it) and run back. I'll have to suggest the games you guys did though.