Dock Jumping

Dock jumping is the simplest thing we run and the hardest thing to be great at. Your dog sprints a 40-foot dock, launches after a toy, and the measurement is taken where the base of the tail breaks the water. Longest jump wins. Everything after that is detail.

What we run

Bad Dog Sports runs Distance. Each dive is its own event with its own purse — there is no overall weekend winner. Enter the dives you want, and every one of them is a fresh shot at the money.

You get up to three judged jumps per dive and three minutes on the dock to take them, timed from the moment you and your dog step on. You are not required to use all three. Tell the judge which jumps you want scored before you take them, and your longest one stands as your score for that dive.

Your dog needs to be jumping already

This is a competition, not a clinic. We do not run intro sessions, there is no trainer stationed on the dock, and three minutes of dock time is not a training window. Your dog should already be leaving the dock on their own and coming back ready for the next one.

That is the only prerequisite, and it is a real one. There is no breed restriction, no size class, no title requirement, and no qualifying distance — a heeler who launches belongs on this dock as much as any Lab. But the dog has to enter the water voluntarily. No pushing, no pulling, no carrying anyone down the dock. If your dog is still making up their mind about water, get them jumping first and come find us after.

Nothing comes onto the dock except you, your dog, and your toy — no food, no training aids, no leash laid across the dock. Prong, choke, and chain collars, harnesses, and e-collars are all fine for getting your dog to the dock, but they come off before the dog competes.

Five ways to win every dive

Placements use a floating percentage group. Once every dog has dived, the field is ranked longest to shortest and split into five equal groups — the top 20%, the next 20%, and so on down. The longest jump inside each of those groups takes that group's share of the purse.

That means you are not chasing the one dog on the property who jumps 28 feet. You are racing the dogs who jump what your dog jumps, and there are five paydays on the table in every single dive. Half of the money a dive takes in goes back out as prize money, and every group carries the same share — winning the slowest group pays exactly what winning the fastest group pays. From a field of eleven dogs up, that share is worth more than the entry fee that bought it.

Entering an event

Pre-registration is $38 per dog per dive. Day-of entry is $43, cash or card, open until one hour before that dive starts. One entry per dog per dive, and you can run as many dogs as you can handle.

There is a mandatory handler's meeting each morning before jumping starts. Dive order comes out of a random draw — we will try to separate your dogs in the running order, but if you have two dogs back to back, lining up a second set of hands is on you.

The full rulebook below covers scoring, tie breakers, the exact purse split, and everything else that decides a close dive.