Broad jump woes... please help... losing my cool - Page 1

Hi all,
Just back from a frustrating obedience lesson.

This is my first GSD.  18 month old working line male.  I happened into an AKC obedience class when he was 4 months old and kind of enjoy it.  He's an absolute joy to work with.  He has his CD, and is ready for his CDX... except for the broad jump.

We've been working on it for months.  There are multiple problems, and when I fix one, I create another.  I'm so frustrated and so is he.  My trainer has me give him a harsh collar correction when he doesn't do it right, but now it's gotten so he doesn't want to even go over OR around it.  He just sits and looks at me, and I can't say I blame him.  So I'm not going to do that anymore, but please, I'm to the point of begging for help with this... Anybody?

Main problem is cutting the inside corner.  Can't seem to break that.  All the other problems I have created trying to fix that one.  Sigh.  I know AKC obedience isn't a popular topic on this board, and I'll probably get some crap for my mistakes, but at least I'm owning up to them and trying to improve.  Please no mean criticism, I feel bad enough as it is.

Thank you.

Well, let's try to use psychology here. I amnot familiar with AKC exercises. What is the dog supposed to do and over what?

A retrieve of a dumbbell over a wall?

He does the retrieve wonderfully, both on the flat and over the high jump.  It's the standing broad jump that's killing us.  I leave him in a sit-stay about 8 feet in front of 4 white boards spread out about 6' total.  He has to jump them and return to me.

Oh, yes, I know now what are you talking about. White boards really low on the ground, like 2 by 4s or something like that,  that the dog is supposed to jump over.

Break the problem into smaller chunks and analyze.

Not being there in person and not knowing you or your dog or observing what is going on, I cannot offer more help then the general internet board bullshit, hoping it is helpful:

No more "harsh" corrections. Why? Cause they don't work obviously. The dog is also young at 18 months for really harsh corrections and he quits, maybe he expects the correction, maybe he is correction sensitive,low treshold for pain etc... Some dogs act like you cut their balls and stabbed them fataly if you pop the leash a bit and some with higher threshhold if you yank really hard at a leash look at you like you are tickling them. Figure out the golden middle: the correction has to be NO MORE and NO LESS than is just enough to make the dog pay attention and achieve the result you want and not to dampen his spirits for work. It's a fine line and every single dog is different.

Use purely motivational and step back in your training, seems it's progressing too fast.

Try to treat this exercise the same as the ones he has success with that you praise him with.

Remove a few damn boards in the begginning. You say 4. Start with one. He does that successfuly, praise like hell, give a favorite toy, treat, ball, tug whatever he likes. Praise again and quit for the night. Rinse and repeat.

Gradualy increase to 2, then 3 etc... and make it fun. Don't treat it like a math exercise, if the dog really likes history and arts.

It's better to accept "good enough" then "let's do it perfect or else" for a while.

Or, you can go even more back in the training.

Get the dog's favorite toy.

Hold the leash loosely.

make him sit in basic position, tease with the toy, other hand holds the leash.

Throw the toy over that one hurdle, run with him (besides him), he jumps over it, you run beside it. All goes well, praise, play, reward.

There are many variations and many avenues to take to get to the end of the journey. Remember Max and his saying, it goes something like this, quoting from memory: He, who figures out how to say this to my dog sohe can understand me has won half the battle already. I think, I butchered it, but it goes something like that.

You can always fallback to compulsion and harsh corrections, but see if you can relax and try to have fun first.

It looks like the dog hates the damn exercise already, so if you make it fun and less of "shool is in session" he may be more spirited and into it. Don't demand precision and technical aspect of the exercise, just jack him up to do it good enough. Nagging can come later.

Hope that helps.

be creative change the subject in to small parts. make the dog jump over a boxs or  or other staf wile is runing for his toy.

I'm not very experienced, but I can offer the advise given to me when I screwed up part of my dogs training. Recreate the obstacle in your yard or where ever you train, & play with him on & around it, until he loses his association of correction  with the object, then start over with motivation only. Hope this helps! jh

My Guy Kai,
      E-mail me at sudengsd@aol.com and I can help.  Have titled in AKC OB since the 80's:))  The broad jump can be a monster-will tell you how to break it down into steps. NO MORE CORRECTIONS!!!!!!  The dog is young and does not understand-cutting corners is  the main problem in the BJ-start back like he has never seen it before.

Vikki

 I would restart from the beginning putting less board..

Start jumping it with him and always in a straight line..put some cones at the beginning at the end of the jumps so it will make a alley and he won't think cutting it.

When he will be comfortable jumping it do some recall.  Him sitting at the beginning of the jumps and you about 20 feet from the end (you facing the jump not besides). when he will do this correctly increase the side of the jump and do it until he his perfect and then you start doing the recall from the side..

You need not to overtrain this exercise because for a GSD he just doesn't get why he cannot cut the jump because it is faster!!Has soon has he gets it..don't train it too much or he will start to cut it again..  This is one of the stupid exercise like drop on recall and the standing without moving for 5 minutes...really no sense in doing those LOL but that's AKC CKC obedience..

Good luck to you..

Very Very easy fix, for cutting the corner, have him go around a cone after the jump.
This will set him up for the front, he is just trying to get back to you.
Break things down like others have said, work on sending him around a cone, without a jump.
You may want to add a target to get him to go around the cone at 1st, you will need a target for the send out in UD.
Then add the jump back in still using the cone, problem fixed.
Then cut down the size of the cone, then use different size plastic pop bottles downing in size.


Good Luck!!

Stop letting your trainer kill your dog over it. A firm correction should ONLY be used after the dog shows you they know 110% what you want!!

There is a way of tilting the boards so the dog cannot step over them, I'll try to take some pics for you post them. A cone ( I use a big water bottle) works great for corners, I have NEVER corrected a dog fo rcutting the corner, when its properly taught you will never need to. I've taken one dog to a UD, working on another CDX right now, and have coached clients through it, and my daughter as well.  Broad jump has never been a problem. You may also need to go back to recalls over it for a while and make it more positive.

How experienced is your trainer with GSDs and with AKC obedience? I've never worked a dog who didnt LOVE the broad jump, and I use correction, too, believe me. May want to shop around.