Dock Diving Training
The last month or so we’ve been re-training Power for Dock Diving. She is a HUGE jumper for the Frisbee, and also in the high jump, and she likes to fetch in the water. So we thought she’d be amazing at dock diving. Well except for the stopping at the edge and waiting for the toy to land in the water before she jumped in…she was a “natural.” Not!
But hey, 12′ 4″ is pretty good from a stand-still, right?
So back to the drawing board! We went to one of the best dock diving trainers around, Lou Mack of CoolDog Productions here in Las Vegas, Nevada. No Lou hasn’t won any DockDogs or Splash Dogs Championships, and he hasn’t set any world records. But I’ve seen the dogs he has trained that perform dock diving in his entertainment shows…and they are HUGE jumpers! Consistently HUGE. If he’d just enter a few events then you’d definitely see some of his dogs at the top of the rankings.
I’d really like to see Lou’s Pit Bull, Nubs, enter some competitions. I did a quick search on the internet and found a claim on the Pit Bull record at 22′ 6″. Is that true? Anyone know the current record? I’ve seen Nubs consistently jump at least that, maybe up to 25 or more feet? Which is pretty amazing for such a huge Pit Bull. But the most amazing thing is that Nubs only has three legs. Two up front, and ONE REAR LEG that launches him 25 feet!!!
Video of Nubs on YouTube, filmed by a fan. Nubs jumps at about 1:30 in…
Returning to the subject…Lou is an awesome trainer who knows what to do from day 1 if you want your dog to be hitting 25′ or more jumps consistently. He has a dock and pool at his house, complete with old “Incredible Dog Challenge” turf covering the dock. Pretty cool. So Power has been heading over there occasionally to get some training, doing ground work and dock work. She is a little bit of a softy and it’s been pretty slow-going, but Lou’s patience with her is paying off. You can see from this video that was shot today in my pool that she’s getting a lot more confidence, she’s not hesitating at the edge anymore and she’s jumping up to catch the frisbee in the air.
(that’s Bootzilla the Pit Bull who jumped in the pool from the side…she just learned how to swim a few days ago!)
Looking good so far! Next up is working on training me to set the frisbee in the air to the right place at the right time. I have to use a stick right now because I can’t throw it perfect yet. Frisbees are great to use for a dock jumping motivator because they hang in the air and a dog can get a better catch ratio with one. Well, if the person can toss it right, and there isn’t any wind! So once again, in comes the professional for the best training…Lou!
Check out Lou’s website for info on when he’s coming to your area: www.CoolDogProd.com If you’re lucky maybe you can get some training tips from Lou.
Great Dane Agility and Flyball Training w/ Mega and Jackpot
This morning we had a great Agility and Flyball practice with the Great Danes at SmartyPaws Agility in Las Vegas. One year old Mega and three year old Jackpot started their box work training (learning to do a swimmer’s box turn for flyball racing), and also did a bit of Agility course work. Also Bootzilla the pit bull did some Agility and started her plank work for running contacts.
Normally for beginning box work for training Flyball, you’d just use the flyball box to teach the dog to jump on and off of it. But for a Great Dane, the box is a pretty small target. Tough to get all four feet on the tiny box comfortably! So for Mega and Jackpot we decided to start with the top of Agility table, and just tilt it to the side. We had done one session previous to this, about a month ago, so this was their second time trying box turns off the table. We started with a short 12″ tall table, and just had them jump on and then off…made that a fun game. Then quickly tilted the table to the point that you see in the video. Basically in this beginning step of box training you just make it fun, and try to reward the most when all four feet are hitting the table top (box), so that the dog enthusiastically pushes off with their back feet. I was very impressed with both Great Danes, they had fun and are progressing very well!
Then after doing the flyball turns, Mega also had a few runs across the dog walk. She is back to a low dog walk because of a fall off a full height dogwalk back in October at the Great Dane Nationals. So she’s finally gaining confidence again. It’s more about confidence and fun for a Great Dane in Agility, so we just focus on running fast and having a good time. If we need to figure out contacts later, well so be it. For now I’m just going to see how she does, learning to just run across through a hoop at the end, no jumping off though!
Then we had Jackpot and Mega run through a short course of A-frame, jump, tunnel, and a few jumps in a serpentine. Jackpot is much more advanced and is working on keeping things tight with more complex handling. Mega…well she’s just keeping it fun and wild right now! We also tested out using the hoop at the bottom of the A-frame, just to see what Jackpot would do with it. He’s been trained to do 2o2o, but is in the middle of re-training with Rachel Sander’s and Elicia Calhoun’s PVC box method. I would say he still needs to keep on the box work on the A-frame. Mega is just going to do a running A-frame, with a hoop at least to keep her head down so she doesn’t launch off.
And we are looking forward to Flyball practice this Sunday with Flying Colors Flyball team!