Cool off this July at the Pool!
Meet Elizabeth, she is the dock diving coordinator for Head Start Canine will be hosting their last IDS Dock Diving event of the summer on July 22nd
Dogs will be able to enter up to 5 events in a day, including distance jumps (Horizon), Eclipse (where dogs grab a toy from a rig) and a timed swimming event (Velocity). Dogs are separated by height into Open (over 16” at the withers) or Lap (under 16”). IDS also features a special class for dogs over 8 years old called the Legend Class. We especially love our Legend Dogs at Head Start Canine.
IDS, an acronym for International Dog Sports, is one of the newer Dock Diving organizations. Similar to other organizations like NADD or UAD dogs can earn titles and invites to end of the year Championships along with ribbons and other fun prizes at sanctioned events. Dogs can compete in three different sports, so there is something for every kind of team.
Horizon, one of the most popular games, is a game that measures how far a dog can jump from the dock. Dogs can use as much or as little of the dock as they want with the goal being the longest jump measured from where the base of the tail hits the water. Additional points are awarded if a dog catches the toy in the air before landing in the water.
Eclipse is a game where the toy is suspended over the pool, at different distances, and the dog is required to knock the toy down. With each successful knockdown, the bumper is moved out in 1’ increments. This continues on until the dog has either missed a total of 3 times or had 2 misses at the same distance.
The last game, and new this year, is called Velocity. This game is all about how long it takes a dog to jump off the dock and swim to retrieve a toy. To begin, the handler throws the toy past the 36’ mark in the pool for Open class or 29’ for Lap class. Then the handler sets the dog in the start box between the 5’- 6’ mark on the dock for Open and 3’- 4’ mark for Lap. This means that the dog’s front paws need to be in between those measurements on the dock. After the judge counts down the dog is released and jumps into the pool and swims out to get the floating toy. Time stops once the dog retrieves the toy. Fastest time wins!
This is the first year Head Start Canine has held sanctioned events with IDS and it has been a busy and fun summer. We will host a special non-sanctioned event in September and one last Sanctioned IDS event in October (TBD).
If you are interested in getting started with the sport, or just letting your dog cool off at the pool, please reach out to @JaxDockDiving or @HeadStartCanine on Facebook.
For more information on IDS and their dock diving program please visit:
https://www.internationaldogsports.com/dockdiving
Photos are (c) Nimer Media/Scott Nimer http://nimermedia.com/