Memorial Day at the lake: the dock plan

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial opening of lake season, and for families in Montgomery, Conroe, The Woodlands and Kingwood that means Lake Conroe or Lake Houston, a dock, a boat and a dog that has been waiting all winter to jump in. The lake is also the place where a dog with a decent recall on land finds out it does not have one in the water. Here is the plan our trainers use to get a dog through the weekend.

The three things that go wrong

• The dog jumps off the dock before anyone is ready, and cannot get back up.
• The dog swims after every boat, jet ski and duck, and will not come back.
• The dog paces, whines and barks on the boat for four hours.

Every one of these is a skill that was never built, and none of them can be built on the day. The weekend is four weeks out. That is enough time.

Recall from the water

Start on land with a thirty foot long line and a recall that already works in the yard. Then move to the water's edge at a quiet spot, still on the line, with the dog in a life jacket that has a handle. Call once from the shore when the dog is belly deep. If it comes, pay big and release it back in. If it does not, bring it in on the line without saying the word again, and call from closer next time. The line stays on for the whole weekend; a wet long line floats and nobody drowns in it. By the third session most dogs turn on the word, because the water is a reward they want back.

Our trainers do this at the lake in the last two weeks of May in every Platinum stay that has a lake in its future. The dog learns that the shoreline has the same rules as the sidewalk.

Place on the dock and on the boat

Bring the place bed to the dock. The dog goes to place while you load the boat, holds it while people walk on and off, and is released to swim only when you say so. Then move the bed onto the boat. A dog that has a spot on the deck lies on it. A dog without one paces the rail. Run this at the dock for twenty minutes on the Friday evening before anyone goes out, with the motor off and then with it running. On Saturday the dog has already done it.

The rules we keep every time

A life jacket, always, even on a Lab, because a tired dog in a wake is a different animal. The dog gets out of the water every half hour for fresh water and shade, because a swimming dog does not know it is overheating. No jumping off the dock until the dog has been shown the ladder or the ramp and used it twice. And in a Texas lake, nobody swims at dusk near the reeds; the alligators are real and dusk is their time.

The finished version

A dog that is reliable off leash on a dock, in the water and on a boat is a VIP dog: six weeks, $10,000, with the Mini-Educator e-collar included, full off-leash reliability and the in-home handover. For a family that wants a dog that comes when called at the lake on a long line and holds place on the boat, three weeks of Platinum at $3,750 gets there, and the lake is one of our field trips. A Platinum dog that starts the first week of May is home for the weekend.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team