Puppy Power

I've always been amused by the people who train their dogs to be competitive dock jumpers. For those of you who may have never caught this on ESPN2 or some other channel, what these promoters do is set up a pool attached to a 40-foot long dock at one end and then owners train their dogs to run down the dock, usually after a favorite toy, and jump into the water as far as they can with the furthest dog winning. That's pretty much all there is to it. (One tweak I would make would be style points for things like biggest splash.) Some of the better dogs can manage to go quite a long way. Now, I've always wanted to do this but the dogs in my life tend to be averse to things such as running, fetching, jumping and water. (Most of my throws are met with a look which says, "That was dumb of you. Now you have to go get that.") That combination leaves me as a spectator. So, when I heard there was an exhibition of these jumping dogs up at the Bass Pro Shops in Foxboro over the weekend I decided to head up and check it out. These are just a few thought I collected while I watched....

-First off, I couldn't tell what level of competition I was watching because there didn't seem to be any consistency in the quality of the jumps. The first dog would jump 20 feet, the next one would fall into the water. Then a dog would jump 18 feet, the one after that would jump 7 feet and the third dog wouldn't jump at all. And while there were a few dogs which had clearly been doing this for a while, mostly it looked like anyone who had their dog with them and wanted to give it a try was allowed to take a run at it. It really took some of the luster off the competitions I saw on TV. Now, I understand the ones which make it that far are not only the highest level but the jumps have probably been edited for TV. Still, if you had a dog and were thinking about training your dog to start dock jumping, I saw nothing which would indicate it is a hard sport to break into.

-Honestly, I think it is all about having the right kind of dog and that starts with size. For example, there was one young lady who was trying to get her tiny French Poodle to jump. The master of ceremonies informed the crowd that they had been trying to get her to jump all day. Well, after ten seconds of looking at this dog I could have told you she was never going to jump. Hell, I'm willing to bet it hated taking baths (at least it didn't have the usual Poodle haircut). I'm not saying one breed is better for this than another, because the only consistent trait in the dogs which had the best distance was they seemed to like jumping but that told me you need an energetic dog to succeed in this sport and this dog was not enthusiastic about jumping. She sauntered to the edge, looked down and pretty much decided she didn't like any toy that much. I don't even blame her, because it may have been only three feet down into the water, but when you've got tiny legs like this dog had it probably felt like much farther. The bigger dogs had no fear.

-It probably also helps to own a stupid dog. Now, I don't think dogs have to be stupid to try this, what I mean by that is you don't want a dog which is going to think the situation through too much. There was one girl with a young Golden Retriever who wanted to jump almost immediately, only the dog couldn't quite get the form right. Just before launching herself into the water the Golden would try and get extra a little extra "oomph" at take-off, which would instead cause her back legs to slip a bit and kill all her momentum. This resulted in the equivalent to a doggy belly-flop (under my format she would have easily won biggest splash). But, that Golden got out of the water and tried to get right back on the dock to jump again. Contrast that with another dog who wasn't keen about jumping, saw that the gate behind his handler was open, shot around him and walked down the ramp into the water - all the while looking quite pleased with himself. Basically, you want a dog which takes the first option given without questioning. I'll put it to you in human context: there is a reason none of the "Jackass" boys are in MENSA.

-The dogs who weren't sure about jumping were actually more amusing, though I'm sure their owners didn't find it quite so funny. Each dog only got a minute to jump, but you could tell the ones which weren't ever going to take the plunge within a few seconds. There were a couple dogs which I think would have eventually gotten to it (or their owners would have shoved them in), but ran out of time. Also, I don't think the crowd helped. Any time a dog started hesitating the MC would ask us to make noise and encourage the dog, which many people were only too happy to do, because I have to say this was a very friendly and pro-dog crowd. [Sidebar: Also, I appreciate that no one went crazy with their dog's name. There were some solid dog names (Scout, Sadie, Bruno), but nothing out of the ordinary. I can't stand it when people try to get overly-cutesy or obscure when it is time to name the family pet.] That sounds good in theory, but more than a couple of the dogs were clearly confused at what all the sudden noise was about and how did all these people know their name? Perhaps silence would have worked better.

-I have to say the set-up of this place worked well because you could watch for a bit, wander into Bass Pro, check out the price of a kayak (still cheaper to rent) and then wander back for some more dog jumping. I've often talked about how price can go a long way in determining how people feel about something and since this was free, I had a blast. After 20 to 25 minutes (at the most) not only could you consider yourself an expert in the sport, but you've pretty much seen all the dog jumping you need to see in one day and you can leave, comfortable in the knowledge that you won't miss anything amazing if you head for home. I'm not sure if or when they will be coming around again, but if you happen to hear that they will be in the area it's a fun way to kill an hour or so. Heck, you can even bring your dog and have them give it a go. (Believe me, you couldn't do any worse than a few of the dogs I saw.) But, never forget - even the worst dog is still better than the best cat.