# Memorable Memorial Day - Miksa bday



## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

Hard to forget the day when Miksa was born last year: we were at our favorite dock diving place over Memorial Day competing with Bende and the breeder sent us pictures as soon as the the pups were born. And here we were again, we had a 3 day weekend as a celebration of memorial day, gorgeous weather here and we went dock diving to the same place. Miksa turned one year old and this was the first occasion he was allowed to attend as a competitor. He did great, showed no sign of fear related to jumping or navigating in a crowded environment and we kept it all very playful for him. He even tried out a new discipline and figured it very quickly, for everyone`s amazement. Watch out Bende, little brother becoming soon a real competition for u on the dock

:kiss


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Happy first Barkday Miksa
Nothing like a pawdy to celebrate.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

Wow -I am so impressed, and jealous. I could never get any of ours to jump off a doc, even the lowest ones. Do yours do it naturally, or did you have to train them to do it?


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

These two were rather naturals in terms of jumping into the pool at home and then the DD competition pool. But then u will practice to fine tune technic, improve handlers skills (at the first competition with Bende i threw the bumper out of the pool at least 3 times, as my natural throwing skills are just terrible...), build those muscles and stamina, especially when you start doing things like Air retrieve. Miksa is still growing, so his body awareness is still WIP too, but he loves to jump in. Having said that I have seen many dogs who were not naturals at the beginning and became very fine jumpers, so often it is up to patience and finding the right motivator, just as in many other fields. 
Funny story: there was a vizsla last year which loved birds but did not want to jump, trainer was sweating her butt off and could not make him jump. She contacted the place where we competed this weekend as they have bird dogs too (GSPs), they took over that vizsla, took out a frozen bird, threw it into the pool and the dog was flying in. Now they are working on transitioning from bird to toy, lol.


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