Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there! Does anybody know anything about lure coursing? I was wondering if mixed breeds are allowed and who holds the events? Also how do you get into it? I posted questions on the coursing forum but it seems to be pretty dead (almost a year since the last post). Also, what do they call that new (by new I mean I just started hearing about it) sport where the dogs jump from the dock..dock diving or something I believe I heard? Any info on that?

I have never heard of it. But is that duncan? He is the pup you had pics up of a yr or so ago.

Yep, that's Dunkadoo. He's all grown up now, just turned two at Christmas time. Time flies! Here's an older pic of him, probably one you guys would all remember.

Yes that is the one I remember. Oh my goodness has it been two yrs already! He sure is a handsome grown up dog.

Yea, two years...it flies! He's turned out to be an awesome boy! I'm starting to really work with him on his obedience and getting brushed up to hopefully compete with him. I think he'll be very good at it, he's really smart and is maturing enough where I'd trust him not to lose concentration and attempt to play with the other dogs :-D. We've been doing silly tricks and things up until now to keep him learning...he even sneezes on command now. Strange, I know lol! He's been a great dog to work with our rescues with and knows exactly when to show a little dominance and when to back off, and has been good at getting them use to other dogs and teaching them what play means. I find him just as important as the humans involved in the rescuing, teaching them how to be good canine citizens.

>>Hi there! Does anybody know anything about lure coursing? I was wondering if mixed breeds are allowed and who holds the events? Also how do you get into it? I posted questions on the coursing forum but it seems to be pretty dead (almost a year since the last post). Also, what do they call that new (by new I mean I just started hearing about it) sport where the dogs jump from the dock..dock diving or something I believe I heard? Any info on that?
>>

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Dock diving. Possibly folks who get together for practice prior to lure coursing events would let you practice with them. I don't know whether any events allow mixes, but people practicing informally could.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

From doing some research it seems that very few events are held other than with the sitehound association (not sure of exact name). I'm going to continue looking into it though. Haven't found much information about dock diving events, most seem to be held in other parts of the country. This I know my dog would already do...how good he'd be I wouldn't know until we really tried, we've been tossing things off of docks and rock ledges (after being sure the drop was safe of course...people use the two we use as well and aren't very far up) for quite some time now and he'll retrieve anything we toss in for him. I'm talking to flyball people in my area as well. Just looking for at least one thing for him to get into, and of course just one at a time providing he enjoys the sport!

What is dock diving?

Dock Diving is a newer sport not recognized by any registries as of yet (as far as I know). It's when a dog is told to stay at the end of a dock and the handler throws a floatable toy into the water and then on command the dog runs and leaps off of the end of the dock into the water. I guess some people don't use toys, most seem too. The part closest to the dock that breaks the water (usually a hind leg, etc) is measured. The longer the distance the better. I believe there are other factors that are used to determine the winner besides for just distance. It seems like if a dog really likes water and is brave enough to leap off of a dock this would be fun. I have never done it and really want to try it, but am having a hard time finding dives in the area. I know there is at least one held each year (was september last year) in conneticut. I found a message board and you can start your own club, etc. and there are quite a few new englanders (especially from Mass) looking to start something up. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Where are you from? I'm in Maine. Mya runs and jumps off the end of the dock all the time. Then she swims out to the raft climbs up the ladder and won't come back in. She wants me to go swimming with her. It's a pain when I'm in a rush and she makes the made dash down to the lake off the dock and out to the raft lol. So how do they measure the distance?

I'm in NH right now, moving back to Mass next month (woohoo). I haven't found any organizations in the area that do the dock diving yet, but found a message board with new englanders that are interested. They have some type of object laid out that has measurements on it I believe to see how far they jump. They also use photos to judge the distance. Check out DockDogs.com if your interested. That's where the message board is. Maybe we could start something out in this area.

I can't do it. Well actually Mya can't she has bad back legs. She can only jump off the dock a couple of times now. She will be 8 yrs old this summer.
I hope you have a safe move back to Mass.

AKC does lure coursing, and so does the American Sighthound Field Association (ASFA). Mixed breeds aren't allowed to actually compete, but I think I remember reading somewhere that they can run either before or after the meet. That's also how puppies under a year get a little practice (they can't compete until they're a year old). Go to the ASFA website at www.ASFA.org for the rules. It's pretty neat. My pharaoh hound puppy's parents are excellent coursers, in fact his father is the top lure coursing pharaoh in the country. : ) His people absolutely love it.
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Kadee Sedtal
home of Kyky The Amazing RRRRando! and old lady Lucy