Why The Best Number Of Dog Agility Jumps Are 4 To 8
We are often asked, “How many jumps should I start with?” You can never have too many single jumps to practice agility. A good starting place is four jumps. This is the absolute minimum number of jumps that we recommend.
It is possible to teach your dog a wide range of exercises, skills and drills with four jumps. The four jumps will make it possible to work on short jump chute or jump grid. You can also setup a “box” with the jumps and teach collection, handling and 270 degree jumps.
You can learn your dog to jump left and right. You can handle it from the inside the box or you can be outside and send your dog. Or you can setup the jumps in a horizontal line to practice treadles and serpentines.
The next step in the training is eight jumps. Here you can setup two boxes and one opening jump. Now you have multiplied the maneuvers that you can train with your dog. The jump grids can be of suggested size and number of jumps.
Another option is to setup the jumps in circles with jump bars at a 90 degree angle to the circle or on the bounds of the circle. With this pattern you can train a lot of various skills.
Your next consideration is a double jump and a triple jump. You could set two or three single jumps together to make your expanded jump, but having double and triple jump in your course work is really valuable to practice. We’ve seen many dogs run a clean course and the last obstacle is a triple and the dog is not prepared for it, and bang, down comes the bar.
If you really want to be ahead of the pack, you should have two sets up eight jumps. Because you can keep the jump grip at all times, it is the ultimate in training. The jumps can be separated from the course work. And when you then includes your double and triple jumps, it is possible the practice all the jumping drills and skills to get the “Qs”.
Martin Elmer is the editor of Hundefan - a website about hundetilbehoer. Here you can also read about hundesnacks.
categories: dogs,agility,dog agility,dog training,training,practice,equipment,agility equipment,dog agility equipment,jumps,pets
