Building up a dogs jumping ability… - Page 2

 Cheryl,

The first thing I see in your photo is that the person with the leash is behind the dog with a tight leash. The person helping teach the dog MUST be agile and quick enough to be in front of the dog. Secondly, it appears that your jump has no carpet below the first rung? Why not? That green stuff, (we use an outdoor carpet on our entire jump) should be covering the entire jump. The dogs legs clearly are not trying to get a grip and how could they on smooth, painted wood? Other than that, without video, it is tough to see what is going on. However, I will say that most dogs who are having trouble jumping are doing so simply because the human has not taught the correct technique. It is rare that a dog cannot jump the required height unless there really is a serious physical problem........

Some dogs are just more naturally athletic than others and cannot jump as well as others. I have owned GSD's that could flatfoot  a six foot fence then others that could jump fair to limited heights. One thing is make sure the dog having troubles is kept lean as a lower weight should help.

Second I would be sure to limit her jumping per workout and not over do it(not that you are). But not a good thing that she is avoiding the jump, need to make it fun for her, Might suggest you do away with the boards at the taller heights and replace with pvc pipe that will give and fall off if she hits it so she does not experience pain from hitting the boards. You know your dog best but get the fun back in it. I would only do a couple of jumps at a lower height then maybe once at the top heights per workout.

I have seen GSD's at a young age that were getting HD and they did start by favoring usually one hip so that is something to be aware of.

These are my opinions and what  likely would try if having the same issues.

I also have a dog that is having trouble getting over the jump and reg height.  Hodie can you describe the correct technique needed by the dog and possible the steps to train it if it does not demostrate the correct way?

Can you not make 3 two inch boards, or 2 three inch boards, and build her up slowly? At this height, she may need smaller increments for conditioning, I build my dogs 2 inches at a time.  So many people throw way too much, too soon at their dogs.

Thats a good ideal too, I built my jump and used a couple of 1" x 6" for the first few boards then used either " 1 x 4" and then ripped some 1" x  3" as the height got higher.  I was thinking since the dog was avoiding the jump it would be good to fine a way so it had no pain if missing the jump.  I've always enjoyed it when my dogs used to; on their own accord go over the jumps without being directed to do so. THey loved doing it!

The girl in the pic was one that loved to jump and do all the obstocles and did them on her own..

We did start Molly out with just one board and then gradually added more boards.  We have been at this height for 3 months.  It is hard to tell if she just doesn't have the endurance or does not want to do it.  We are not letting her run around the jump - but she still wil refuse and just run into the boards sometimes.  I swim her to help build up her endurance, but just have not seen alot of progress in her ability to jump.  We have re-introduced the ball with the jumps as she has a nice ball drive.  It seems to help a little in getting her drive to go over but still have alot of work to do.  I am not rushing her to do things.   I am told that we are making slow, steady progress.  I have no reason to put a Schutzhund I on her other than for the fun of it and proving that she can do it.   I was just wondering if there were some other things I could try to improve this exercise or possibly the strength in her back legs.

Desert Ranger, thank you for the advise.  I will try to make it more fun for her and will practice in more frequent, shorter sessions.   I will also try the series of jumps as I have some akc jumps that I can set at various heights.  Sometimes I think my concern over her hips made me more cautious in training this exercise and I somehow communicated that to her and that is why she hesitates.  I am constantly looking at her to determine if she favors a hip or leg etc, but to date have not seen any issues.  Luckily she is a very lean dog, so it is easy to keep her at a lite weight. 

Cheryl

 Cheryl,

Drop the wall to a lower height. Use the ball on a rope and pull it over the jump just in front of the dog with a second person leading the dog. Or use food to entice her, or get up on the jump on the other side and encourage her. Experiment with both jumps on how far to be from the jump. Some people are too close, and others start too far away. Get the meter jump back down to half the height. If the dog has continuously been hurting herself as she tries, it may be a simple issue that SHE has decided this is not fun. So start low and get her consistently, over a long period of time, doing it correctly and rewarding her for it and only gradually go up in height. Also, be certain the person handling the leash can do it properly or they just hinder the dog. 

Good luck.

The other thing you might try is to find a new location to train doing the jumps and even a different look and appearance to the jump.  Then start the slower more graudual fun approach but be careful not to do too many jumps per workout.

If you suspect bad hips or have not had them xrayed then I would do that immediately.

Good luck