Training the Hurdle - Page 1

My girl Kita working on the FR hurdle, set at 1.2m. I like to take video from this angle on a semi-regular basis, so I can see if we need to adjust where I put her to start, the take-off, etc. Can be extremely helpful when trying to diagnose a jumping problem with a dog. Her first jump (not on this video) she knocked a bar, looked at the video later and realized I'd set her back one pace to many, so she took off to early, and touched the jump on the "down" side of her arc, when she should have still been hitting the apex.

www.youtube.com/watch

Amazing, the athleticism is a thing of beauty!  I agree,  the number of strides to the fence is an important factor.  Do you ever experience a dog who is trying to run so fast to get over the jump that it consequently jumps too flat (not enough arc) and knocks the bar? 

Video is a great training tool.  The details needed are often missed without a video.

Animules, that is exactly what I've been telling the ladies! I'm always striving to be the best!

There are a number of methods I've used to get dogs to be more aware of the jump, and to clear it instead of hitting the top bar.  Sometimes it's just a matter of placement, putting a dog closer so they can't build up speed and must think "up" not forward can work.  Sometimes actually increasing the distance from the jump does the trick.  Lowering the dogs drive state so they are thinking more about the jump, and less about whatever is beyond the jump (the reward usually) can help.  Or touching them in some way as they jump.  I've used another PVC pipe, a horse lunge whip, a long twig, etc to tap the dog in the stomach as it's going over, to make it think about the top bar.   Sometimes it works to hold a bar 6-12 inches in front of the jump, the same height as the top bar, so they have to clear both of them.  Running a bungee from upright to upright can work, some dogs don't like the feeling of the bungee.  Or running a piece of fishing line, so they don't see it but they feel it if they don't jump high enough.  I've also used an electric bar, and a wooden bar with finishing nails tapped into it, kind of like the brushes put on the top of the Sch hurdle. 
How you set the dog up can also make a difference, if the dog is sitting the jump doesn't appear as high as it does when they are laying down.  So if you have the choice (in French Ring we do) then that can help.
Look at the dogs body as they go over the jump.  Are they kicking out with their back legs, or tucking up the entire time?  A dog who stays tucked has to jump 4-8 inches higher then a dog who kicks, higher being measured by where the top of their back is, to get their entire body over.  A dog who kicks is removing the "stuff" underneath them, so they don't have to jump quite as high.  Sometimes though it's the extra distance and speed that encourages the dog to kick, vs tuck.  So you just have to play with it.  And videotape everything, so you can go back later and see what was working, and what wasn't.
Also having markers so you can clearly mark to the dog when they are right and wrong can help. 
And finally, as weird as it may sound, raising the height of the jump can do the trick.  Kita, the dog in the video, will knock bars if I put the jump at 0.9m  Raise it up to 1.2m and she clears it consistently, with room to spare.  So I don't jump her low in training, even if all she needed to do in the FRI is 1.0m.  Now she'll be competing in FRII so it's higher, but I always jump her maximum for FRIII, so she has the muscle memory, then even if I lower it just for the trial she's good. 

Thanks, Malindobe, a lot of really good information.   I never noticed that before about dogs that kick out over the hurdle vs those that remain tucked.  Much food for thought!

A couple people mentioned in PM's teaching the dog to jump correctly regardless of where it's set up.  Kita knows how to do this, it's not something I taught her, but something she naturally does.  I can put her pretty much anywhere on the field, as long as she's at least 3-4 steps from the jump so she can get some momentum, and she'll adjust her stride to hit her take off point.

However, I know what her natural stride is, just from practicing. and when we are training for trial I consistently set her in the same start spot so she hits her take-off point without having to stutter-step or otherwise adjust.  When it counts for points, why see if she can adjust for me, why not just be consistent with her.  It's like teaching your dog a cue for the about turn, start, stop, setup, etc, then not using that cue in trial just to see if they will still do it correctly.

Coures that can bite me in the butt, as mentioned in my first post.  I put her one step to many from the jump, she realized to late she needed to adjust her stride and took off to early, because I changed the routine we've done 100 times.