BusyDog

Jumping 101

Allison Bryant
912 Four Mile Church Rd.
Ball Ground, GA 30107
Ally ‘at’ busydog .com
Article first appeared in July 1, 2004 Aussie Times

Jumping seems to be one of those problems that either isn’t a problem at all, or plagues you and your dog for his entire agility career.

For those of you that don’t have a ‘jumping problem’ consider yourself lucky! However, there are some of us that have dogs that can’t seem to keep the bars up. There are the dogs that knock just one or two bars during their run. And there are the dogs that knock (and sometimes crash) most of the bars during their run.

For dogs that don’t have a jumping problem, I believe that they have the conformation and athleticism to do the job and they also have the temperament to be concerned with keeping the bars up and making their handler happy.

For dogs that have a jumping problem, I think there are a few issues that could contribute to the problem….conformation, condition, jumping style, handling style and temperament.

Dogs that are not in condition, whether it is being out of shape or overweight can have jumping problems. This is typically seen with a dog that knocks a bar late in the course. They get tired and sloppy. The main solution to this problem is getting some weight off your dog and increasing his endurance. Since jumping puts stress on your dog’s joints and body, you want your dog to be in ‘athletic’ shape. Any excess weight is making it harder on his body. Reducing his body fat will help to extend his competitive career.

If your dog gets winded easily or tires quickly, you might consider some general aerobic conditioning exercises. Jogging or biking with your dog will help. If you have a treadmill, put your dog on it for 20 minutes a couple times a week.

Jumping style varies greatly from dog to dog. Some have a nice arc, some jump really flat. Some dogs have no idea where their feet and legs are and some are very ‘careful’ when going over the jump. Cavalettis and jump chutes help to teach a dog to be more aware of his feet.

Temperament is one aspect of jumping that is hard to change. Some dogs are very concerned about doing the right thing. They don’t like to knock bars if they can help it. Some dogs have little impulse control and are so excited by the trial atmosphere that they crash through jumps to get to the next obstacle. This is a difficult problem to fix. Taking the dog off course when he crashes a jump, or stopping the run (if in practice) is one way to communicate to the dog that the performance was not ideal. Downing the dog after knocking a bar is another way. ‘Correcting’ a dog for knocking bars must be used carefully. Some dogs might associate the correction with going over the jump and start refusing jumps. Some dogs might think that ‘downing’ is bad and then you might see problems with a down on the table. If you are going to use negative reinforcement associated with a knocked bar, be cognizant of ramifications in other areas of performance. In addition, try to be very precise with your correction. Don’t wait until three obstacles later to down your dog. Your dog won’t know what the incorrect action was if you correct him late. With fast dogs, this can be very hard.

Your handling style could contribute to knocked bars. If you cue a turn late or attempt a rear cross when your dog isn’t really ahead of you, you could be contributing to the problem. However, it is the dog’s job to perform the jump correctly (and this includes keeping the bars up). But it is also your job as the ‘navigator’ to give your dog timely cues and stay out of his way.

I have a dog that has a ‘small’ jumping problem. He falls into the ‘one bar a course’ type dog. He doesn’t usually knock bars on regular courses, instead he usually knocks one bar each jumpers course. It always seemed to be one of the last few jumps in the course. He is very close to finishing his ATCH and just needs a few jumpers legs. He has many more gamblers and regular legs. So I figured I should finally address the problem head on. I talked with people about it and got the best advice from Scott Chamberlain (Thanks Scott!) He finally hit the nail on the head after talking several times about my problem. He asked, “How often do you practice jumpers courses?”

“Uh, never…” was my response. He gave me a look like “And you are surprised that you are having jumping issues because….?”

How often do you practice jumpers courses? I know that at the training center where I take classes, we never practice jumpers courses. We ALWAYS have a regular course set up. At run-throughs we ALWAYS have a regular course set up. At home, I ALWAYS have a regular course set up. So why was I so mystified that I was doing poorly in a class that I never practice? I’m not sure. Maybe because it seemed easy enough? How hard can a course be that is all jumps? If you have jumping problems, you know the answer to that question!

I went home and set up a jumpers course. I have 18 jumps (mostly home made out of PVC) that I set up in my yard. I started training my dog on jumpers courses. At first he knocked a bar late in the course. I would ‘down’ him while I reset the bar. Then I asked him to perform the jump again and when he did successfully, I gave him a treat. (I didn’t make him redo the entire course, just that jump.) I suspected that part of his jumping problem was a conditioning problem (even though he is in great aerobic shape from working stock.) I worked him every other day for about 20 minutes on the jumps. I changed my course each week.

After a couple months, I noticed that his topline had filled in. He has more muscle over his hips and along his spine. He also stopped knocking a bar late in the course. He could go much longer during our session before he knocked a bar. Now he might knock one bar each 20 minutes. Sometimes he doesn’t knock any!

One unexpected benefit of our jumpers training is that my handling and my dog’s attention has improved greatly. Since the course is all jumps, he has to watch me closer to figure out which jump I am referring to when I say ‘Go Jump!’ In addition, I have to be clearer with my signals to indicate the correct jump. I also have to RUN and it has transferred over to my regular courses.

At our next trial after our jump training sessions, I noticed that my dog ran very nicely in his regular classes. He watched me closely and was cueing off my body language better than ever. His jumpers classes went much better also. He earned two legs in four runs. This was a huge improvement over our previous 0 and 10 record.