The first time Patty Helmig’s dog Rock-it launched from dock to pool at a competition, he belly-flopped.
They hadn’t practiced this before. Instead, the loud music and pool at the dock diving event snagged Helmig’s attention while she and Rock-it, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, waited between agility runs at a show in Phoenix several years ago.
On an impulse, she took the plunge.
And loved it.
Next weekend, Helmig’s 3-year-old pup Toastie and 10-year-old Rock-it will compete in dock diving on home turf, when the event comes to the Coyote Classic Dog Shows.
Marianne Stephens, the Coyote Classic chair and a member of the Tucson Kennel Club, expects more than 1,000 dogs and more than 150 breeds to compete.
It’s the first time the shows organized by the Tucson Kennel Club and the Greater Sierra Vista Kennel Club will host dock diving and barn hunt, another increasingly popular event. These events, like obedience, rally and agility, are open to any dog, purebred or mutt.
“Barn hunt, dock diving and agility are the ones that the dogs love,” Stephens said.
“You can just see it. They get all excited doing it.”
What is dock diving?
Dock diving dogs do exactly what you think — they dive off docks and into the water.
More specifically, they are trained to hurtle into the water in pursuit of a toy. Dogs earn titles based on how far they consistently jump.
Helmig’s Rock-it earned his junior title through North America Diving Dogs this past summer, meaning he jumped between 10 feet and 14 feet 11 inches five times.
In summer 2014, the American Kennel Club began recognizing titles earned at North America Diving Dogs events as AKC titles.
In distance jumping, dogs can accumulate the five qualifying jumps within a distance range over time. It doesn’t have to be all at once. In each event, owners or handlers sign up for a splash, where the dog gets two jumps. The farthest of the two is recorded to count toward a title.
Toastie, Helmig’s other Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, earned his senior title in 2014, leaping consistently between 15 feet and 19 feet 11 inches. At the Coyote Classic, Toastie has a full schedule. In addition to dock diving, he will also be competing in conformation and agility.
How do you train?
Helmig has learned that when she throws the rubber training bumper for her dog to follow into the pool, she needs to chuck it far enough to challenge the dog, but close enough that catching the toy is a possibility.
The hope of a catch propels the dog even farther, she has found.
But not all dogs are naturals at dock diving. Some don’t even know how to swim.
Mary Watcher owns a dock diving pool in Huachuca City and offers a variety of training classes and competitions through the service Amazing Canines.
“It’s one thing to walk into a pond or lake and another thing to jump into the air and land in the water,” Watcher said. Because of that, classes start with the basics, with some dogs learning to swim in a life vest.
To train Toastie, Helmig started in a standard swimming pool, teaching him to jump to her.
“He needed to learn, yes, he can relax and properly swim, instead of the panicked swimming,” she said.
Where do you train?
Usually, Helmig sticks to dock diving in the summer months, but she couldn’t pass up a chance to compete at home.
Dock diving has yet to take off in Tucson.
When Helmig practices, she does so at Watcher’s pool in Huachuca City. It’s the only one she knows of in Southern Arizona.
Watcher is aware of several pools in Phoenix, where the sport first piqued her interest. She commuted north for about a year and finally decided to open her own pool three years ago — an extension of her pet daycare and training business Animal Watchers and More.
“The problem with barn hunting and dock diving right now is we don’t have venues in Tucson,” said Janet Galante, who owns Tucson dog daycare and training center Sit! Stay! Play, 2003 E. 14th St. Her own 11-year-old Chihuahua Lulu will compete in barn hunt at the Coyote Classic. Her two Hungarian Vizslas will show in conformation.
At her business, Galante offers training for obedience and agility events but wants to relocate to accommodate barn hunt and dock diving.
“You need a lot of space for dock diving,” she said. And money. Galante estimates a regulation-size pool and dock could easily cost $40,000.
Watcher’s regulation pool is 20 feet by 41 feet, and the dock is 40 feet long, reaching 4 feet above the water.
“If you want to get serious about it, you go to Phoenix or come here,” said Watcher, who will be competing in the agility, not dock diving, events in the Coyote Classic.
But the Coyote Classic organizers hope bringing both dock diving and barn hunt to Tucson will build more interest here.
“Dock diving has energy, and the dogs feed off that energy,” Helmig said. “They really feed off the crowd.”
