While agility jumps are obstacles that most dogs love, tackling this agility obstacle correctly can be trickier than you might think. Dog jumps can be easy to teach, initially, but it’s crucial that you don’t fall victim to some of the most common jumping mistakes.
1. Start Low, Start Slow
In the early days of agility training, it just makes sense to start with smaller single dog jumps. Keep agility jumps low and easy to navigate. Too often, people start out by teaching dog jumps at competition height, but there’s plenty of time to raise the bar, so to speak. You even can start by simply laying the bar on the ground and allowing your dog to sniff the bar and then learn to walk and jump over it. From there, add a little height until you reach regulation height.
2. Master A Jump, Then Add Another
It’s tempting to teach a bunch of different dog jumps at the same time, such as teaching a basic jump and then quickly moving on to double or triple jumps or even the tire jump. But teaching too many different jumps at the same time can be confusing for your pup. Once your dog has mastered basic agility jumps at the competition height, you can add a new type of jump or even add a completely different piece of agility equipment.
Basic single agility jumps can be one of the easiest items to teach, so many people start with these dog jumps and move on to the pause table or another piece of agility equipment before adding more complicated jumps or equipment such as the teeter, weaves and A-frame, which can be a bit intimidating for dogs.
3. Teach The Turns
Most agility dogs love to jump, so teaching the basics of jumping usually comes fairly quickly. What some handlers fail to consider is turning. After all, once a dog exits a jump, they probably will be turning left or right to head to the next piece of agility equipment. It can be helpful to have them work on turning left and turning right after exiting a jump, even if you are only teaching one agility jump combined with no other equipment. You also can practice your own turning as a handler and work on signals and commands to help your dog understand what to do. When you do finally set up a full course, you will want to work on turns in order to improve accuracy. Once accuracy and turning has reached a successful level, then you can work on speed.
4. Conditioning Is Key
While agility generally is safe for healthy active dogs, handlers sometimes forget to add conditioning exercises to their training regime. Keeping your dog strong and fit can ensure that missteps on the agility course don’t turn into injuries. Always do a warm-up before any session of agility training and consider taking your dog on some strenuous walks with uneven elevation to work on their endurance, although save the walks for non-training days, as too much exercise might tire out your canine companion. A quick easy walk and warm-up exercises before agility training, though, do expend a bit of energy, making it easier for your dog to focus as you teach agility jumps.
You also might consider looking up various dog stretching exercises to ensure that all of their muscles are strong. These conditioning exercises also are helpful for keeping handlers fit, and that’s one of the many cool things about dog agility, it’s a great workout for the dogs as well as their human companions.
5. Don’t Overdo It
As we always say, dog agility is primarily about having fun and bonding with your sweet pooch. Agility training also helps with general dog training, and decreases boredom in dogs, which will make your dog happier overall. However, sometimes a training session can become frustrating, and if that happens, just take a break. You want your dog to have a fantastic time soaring over dog jumps, so if a dog seems confused or tired, pack it up for the day or try again later.
Keep sessions short, because dogs have short attention spans and you don’t want to risk injury or muscle strain with over-zealous training sessions. In the beginning, you might spend just 10 minutes per day training and work up to 20 minutes session or slightly longer, provided you take some breaks.
No matter what type of agility jumps you may need, we have them here at Carlson Agility. Our selection of dog jumps includes single, double and triple agility jumps, as well as panel jumps, wing jumps, tire jumps and even mini jumps for small dogs and puppies. We also carry specialty UKC jumps and training tools. Take a look at our selection and if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at any time.
