Dock Diving
Dock diving is a relatively new canine sport, emerging in about 2000, apparently after it was featured on ESPN as a ‘filler’ sport at the Great Outdoor Games.
In brief, think of Dock Diving as a water based long jump for dogs. Dogs leap off of the platform (or Dock) to retrieve their bumper from a water filled tank. The dog who catches the most ‘air’, or who leaps the longest distance, is the winner. Any breed of dog six months or older can compete, although most of the ‘serious’ competitors seem to be sporting breeds and the omnipresent Border Collie.
What I wasn’t expecting to see was a Dock Diving Bulldog – even if this little guy is wearing a life jacket. Oh, and just for the record – don’t try this at home.
Wow! He got some distance.. and good air! I’d never try it (Sushi would be too busy trying to roll herself out of the life jacket or playing to the crowd), but that’s impressive. He really seemed to like it from what I could tell..
I loved the way he went vertical when he left the dock – straight up in the air to gain more distance. What an amazing bulldog!
When we had Lucie, one of my favorite bulldog quips was that “bulldog” and “aerodynamic” should not be used in the same sentence – except, of course, sentences like “My bulldog is NOT aerodynamic.” Ah, well, at least the dog looked like he was having fun…and was wearing a life jacket!
Yes dockdogs is a fun sport and the dog in the above video (that I filmed and never asked to use) is an english bulldog. She lives in ON Canada and LOVES dockdiving. She was jumping better than a lot of dogs. Her average was 16 feet.
Thats my girl, Jelly. A Bulldog who is absolutely out of control around water. She and our other Bulldog Mimi have shattered all the Bulldog stereotypes. The swim, jump, race flyball and play agility.
I will post some of their finer moments to youtube soon.
Coco jumped into a swimming pool and swam like a bowling ball! I had to jump in after her with all my clothes on which served me right for having her off leash near a pool. I can’t let her out of my sight (and don’t)!