Sunday, May 9, 2010

Dock Diving

When Jonathan and I were shopping for Reese, one of the questions we asked breeders was, "Do the parents like to swim?"

I had no idea the danger of this question. In my head I thought I was getting a puppy that would lollygag in the pool with me on a summer afternoon, or perhaps take the occasional beach trip.

In reality, this one, seemingly harmless question would mean I would never again be able to pull a towel out of the closet without at least 30 minutes of excited whimpering chasing me around the house.

Reese loves swimming; in fact there is nothing in the world Reese likes more than swimming. (I have tested it... she picks swimming over her favorite yellow ball, over a bowl of food, over a chance to chase ducks... and yes, even over me.)

Reese has loved swimming from day one. This is her first jump in the pool. She was about 4 months old and it was the first warm-enough-for-a-swim day of her life. My brother ran and jumped in the pool & Reese followed. No teaching, no bribing. Just jumping.



Reese will literally spend hours in the pool. She loves to jump and retrieve. But she will also float on rafts, pull you around when you hold her tail, and attempt to dive for sunken toys. But jumping is her favorite.



So a couple of weeks ago when I heard about the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in St. Pete, FL, curiosity got the best of me. Among other things, they were going to have a dock diving competition. Reese, Grandma and I went to find out what it takes to be an Incredible dock diver.

Needless to say, Reese loved it. (Tried to jump in the pool with the dogs!) So I found a local pool and signed her up for class.

Mandatory class 1 is used to teach the dogs to jump off the dock. It is about 2.5 feet off the water, and apparently can be a challenge to get pups used to the height difference.

Reese didn't have that problem. Surprise, surprise, she jumped at the first opportunity.
















So the teacher quickly had Reese begin focusing on the height of her jumps. (Eventually this will help her increase her distance.)



















Her landings crack me up!

































Reese loved every minute of class. She seems to thrive on being challenged. (And I thrived on the fact that she slept for 2 days straight when we got home!) We have been given some homework to practice before Reese's next class... with the advanced group!

...Who knows, maybe one day Reese will be the dog on ESPN as Purina's Incredible Dog.

I leave you with a jumping sequence, and a funny comment. About half way through Reese's class, the teacher said, "Wow, she doesn't do anything slow, does she?"



1 comment:

  1. So have you started to house hunt for one with a swimming pool or will you be breaking ground in your back yard soon? :)

    ReplyDelete