How old?

[lil_scout]

I've been looking and can't find the answer: How old does a dog have to be to practice? My little golden girl is 5 months and there is a splash dog event near us this weekend. She's already a good swimmer. I don't want to compete, just practice.

[Katiesmom]

im not positive on this, you must have your all your shots update, you might be ok at 5 months, i know they usually prefer 6 months

hopefully the administrater will get back to you

[Lucy's Mom]

I'm not sure of age, either, but I just wanted to give you an idea for a practice area since I assume you live near Sac - I found a pretty good place to practice is the dock at Lake Natoma just off Hazel. If you go in the gate and take the first left it will take you to the dock. There are 2 docks at the ramp, one is 6-8 inches high, and the other is 3x that. Since it's basically only a kayak/canoe lake, there aren't boats coming in and out too much. If it's hot and you want to use the higher dock, go early because it is all aluminum and gets too hot for the dog, but the other is a coated dock, so at least they don't burn feet or their bottoms when they sit. My dog kept not sitting and jumping in the water until I reached down and felt the dock, and this was about 11:30 in the a.m. The dogs can't go on the beach or lawn there, though, so that's kind of a drag. I don't know how much it costs to enter the park now that rates have gone up, but it was $8 before. I think you can park outside and walk in, though - a short walk. Another place I've gone is out to Performance Dogs in Action in Pleasant Grove (north of Sac) and she has a pond w/dock that you can rent by the 1/2 hour for $15. Her site is performancedogsinaction.com Good luck!

[Sassy Girl]

Splash Dogs rules recommend the dog be at least 6 months of age to compete.