a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Jumping Drills

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Jumping Drills

After Tika's bar knocking escapades this weekend, I set up some simple jumping drills yesterday evening. Consisting of only 4 jumps, spaced starting at 8', on a line angling to the left (and, later, to the right). Jumps at various heights starting low. Gradually moved last 2 jumps to wider spacing.

Interesting contrast among dogs.

Tika had no trouble bounce-jumping the 8' up to 12' distances, and very smoothly--*if* her toy was on the ground at the end. If the toy was in my hand or if I left it in a chair behind us, she tended to tick or knock the bars and get an extra stride in the 12' section.

Jake had no interest in jumping when his toy was on the ground at the end--he repeatedly went around jumps to get to it, sometimes the whole line of 4. But if the toy was in my hand or on a chair behind us, he jumped beautifully, although he never did bounce-jump the 10' spread.

Casey is still learning to do sequences, so I backchained him a bit. But with his toy on the ground at the end, he bounce jumped everything perfectly without even a moment's hesitation. He's about the same height at the withers as Jake, although proportionally I think his legs are longer. Goes to show that if you introduce a dog to jumps in an orderly way, they have fewer problems doing excellent jumping.

Huh.

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