Long dock to short dock "conversion"

Hey Milt (or whomever can answer this question!)

Just wanting to know what the "conversion" is from long dock to short dock.

Looking forward to jumping at Bristol tomorrow!
Other then the dock being a short dock as opposed to a long dock, is everything else the same?
Cars can't drive up to the dock so we need to haul everything in?
Do I need to bring a tent? Or do you think enough people will be there that we can share?
Coming solo, so the LESS "stuff" I gotta bring with me (since I will have four {still contimplating bringing the fifth} brown beasts with me!) the easier it will be for me to get things in and out!

Do you need help getting things set up? Just give me a shout and I'll be happy to help in any way I can.

Again, looking forward to being able to jump! UAD jumping is the BEST!!!

Kathy

hi Kathy
here are the short dock Divisions
Novice 1" - 9'11"
Junior 10' - 14'
Senior 14'1" - 17'
Master 17'1" - 19'5"
Ultimate 19'6" - up

Last weekend I answered this question many times at the Paws in the Park event, as it was on the Short Dock & Pool set up.

There is no "conversion" or equation from Long to Short, like converting inches to centimeters. One set equation would not work, because the further the dog jumps, the greater the impact on the score is.

Here is how Milt and Brian came up with the Short Dock divisions. They reviewed the scores of a large number of our titled dogs, who were also consistently jumping within a foot of one score at many events. Then, they did a statistical comparison of their jumps on long versus short. When that was charted out, they decided the divisions for short dock.

That is why a Senior leg is a Senior leg, regardless of whether jumped on a short or long dock/pool. Thus, if you earn a Senior leg on the short dock, it now counts with the long dock towards UAD titles.

To explain further, using a fictional dog, let's say we looked at the scores of a Master titled dog, Spot. He had a average jump score of 21-22' at our long dock events over the course of a year. He was a solid consistently Master jumping dog with a Master title. When he jumped at short dock/pool events, he jumped between 18-19' all weekend.

Then, we saw that the same thing happened with the Seniors and Ultimate titled dogs.

However, there was relatively no difference in the Novice titled dogs jumps between the Short and Long dock/pool... and very little difference in the Junior division.

So, that is how the Short Dock Divisions were made. A lot of thought and hard work went into creating them by Milt and Brian.

Now, we each have our own theories as to why the jumps are affected this way on a short vs. long pool and dock. Some people believe that it is because on a shorter dock, the dog has a shorter run way and cannot build up as much speed or velocity.

I personally do not believe this, as I've heard many times over the 7 years that we have been doing this, that dogs can build up the most velocity if started from 20-30' back, not 40. If they start at 40' they will actually begin to loose momentum and slow down slightly at about 10' from the end. (I've also heard that they can go faster from a laying down position than a sitting, but I don't understand how, which certainly doesn't mean that it's not true. )

I believe that the effect on jump distances on a short dock is caused by the dog. I believe that our dogs are far smarter than we give them credit for. They don't want to hit the end of the dock. Would you? So, they shorten their jumps to avoid hitting it. (Not that there is any really danger of that happening.) But this is only my theory...

On the other hand, I've also heard that Little Morgan, our little chocolate lab Waffles' dad, who held the world record for 4 years, was so driven, crazy and focused on his Dokken dead fowl trainer that he would jump into a brick wall after it.

Hope my answer did more to help than confuse.
MaraLee