Tuesday Training Tip Number 4. How to teach a dog to jump. (With a special focus on agility jumping.)

    Today's Tuesday Training Tip is from my Friend Duncan with his border collie mix puppy Rex.  Duncan wanted basic information on teaching his dog to jump for agility.

 AND SHAME ON YOU WHO DIDNT COMMENT WITH REQUESTS!  I didn't have any requests so I had to personally ask Duncan what I should do this week.  I would love to do some TTT's on horses soon.  I'm low on ideas for horses especially though.

Before you start training your dog to jump you need to consider a few aspects of jumping.

1. The dog must have physical ability for jumping.  This ability must be cultivated so the dog learns how to judge proper takeoff distance and jump height on his own.
2. The dog must learn how to work at a distance from you while still focusing and obeying.  The dog must also learn to go away from you on command.
3. Your dog must enjoy jumping but be in control of its joy.  If jumping is something the dog fears, it will never do well.  If a dog cannot control its excitement for jumping it can stop obeying you or start knocking down poles because it is so exited.

    Number 3 is something you must consider from the first day and in every consecutive practice.  Do not punish your dog if it does not jump!  If your dog approaches a jump and is punished for not jumping, the dog will not realize it is being punished for missing the jump.  What the dog will see, is an unpleasant circumstance coming from the presence of the jumps.  This will lead to the dog becoming afraid every time it approaches a jump and not wanting to jump.   If your dog does not jump a jump, catch them and insist that they do jump the jump.  By containing them, and only rewarding them for jumping they learn that jumping is a way to gain fun things and refusing is boring.

    When you start working with your dog, forget about distance and speed.  After your dog learns to jump those can be incorporated.  You must start by simply teaching your dog how to jump, and teaching your dog a command for jumping.  Below are simple steps to training your dog to jump.  Remember, these steps are not meant to be completed in a day.  They are to be completed at your dogs pace.  If you dog is struggling with something don't push them, go back to the last step and work longer before going forward again.

Start by setting up a very short jump for your dog.  4" is ideal for most dogs.  For very small toy breeds start with 2".  Your dog will probably step over this first "jump" but that is what you want.  Your dog isn't going to have ANY idea what you want.  If you start with something higher, your dog is likely to not jump it and it will make you frustrated and it will be a negative experience for both of you.

1. Decide what command you will use for jumping.  Common commands are "over" "jump" "hup" or "up".  Keep in mind that this command needs to be separate from all your other commands.  If you do agility with your dog you will need a command for climbing the ramps and a command for jumping onto the pause table.  For this reason, I do not like using the command "up" for jumping over something.   I prefer "up" to be used when the dog is going up something rather than over it.  So, before you even get your dog out you need to decide what command will be used when you want your dog to jump over something and when you want your dog to jump on something.  I use "over" for jumping a jump, "on" for getting on top of a pause table or anything else.  I chose to use "up" for going up the A-frame, dog walk, or teeter-totter even though my trainer uses the command "climb".  By making these words distinctly separate I can run my dog to the pause table and tell her "over" and she will jump over the whole thing instead of getting on top of it.  I can also command her "on" at a park bench and she will get on it instead of jumping like usual.
2. Start with your dog on leash with some treats.  Kneel across the jump from the dog, show it a treat, call it, and encourage it to come over the jump to you.  When you dog does jump (or walk) over the jump repeat your command and give it lots of praise.  Call your dog over the jump a few times from either direction until it gets the idea.
3. Go with your dog.  After your dog gets the idea you can run with your dog and jump over the jump with them.  Some dogs need their owner to go over the jump with them for quite a while before they are confident jumping a jump without the owner.  For these dogs you can start slowly raising your jump as you continue jumping it with them.  Try the following step before you decide to raise your jump.
4. Get your dog to jump by itself.  As your dog becomes confident running with you and going over the jump and has learned its command it is time for the dog to start becoming more independent.  Keep the leash on, run up to the jump with your dog but then pass by the side of the jump while directing your dog over it.  If the dog tries to follow you around the jump use the leash to keep them in front of the jump, go opposite them, and call them over.  You may have to do this a few times.  When your dog will go over the jump smoothly as you pass by you are ready to move on.

    Note:  When you are working with your dog for agility they do not need to be in heel position.  Your dog should learn to run on either side of you over the jumps or just as you run along.  You can let them get a little bit ahead of you as long as they are still obeying you.  Agility is about cultivating independence with obedience.  If you start letting your dog jump while they are ahead of you now, it will help later when we start adding distance work.

    5.   Make things a little taller.  Now that your dog knows how to jump you can begin making your jump taller.  Do this about 2" at a time.  Your dog should jump each new height at least 6 times before you raise it again.  Measure the height from your dogs withers to the ground.  Don't go over 3/4 of this height for now.  If at any height your dog starts struggling and knocking down poles lower it 2" and work there until your dog is confident.  

    Another note:  "Full jump height" is the height from the dogs withers to the ground and is the height that your dog will need to jump when it is competing in agility.  Your dog should not jump this height until it is 14 months old.  If you are teaching a puppy to jump you should not go any higher than 3/4 full jump height until they reach 14 mo.  If you are teaching an adult dog to jump you should just keep it at 3/4 jump height until they have more experience jumping and have had time to build up their muscles.  If you want to jump your dog over full jump height at some point they should be at least 18 months old, and should be in good physical shape with regular jumping workouts so they don't pull muscles or injure joints jumping.

    6.  Add some variety.  Now that your dog knows what it is doing, and can jump fairly high it is time to add more jumps.  To start, keep these jumps at least 10' apart so that your dog has plenty of time to balance itself and prepare for the next jump.  Practice lots of different patterns from both directions.  When you give your dog its jump command point at the jump that it is supposed to jump. Now that there are multiple jumps your dog must learn which jump you want it to go over.  As your dog does this you can start lining up jumps closer to each other to make things more challenging.  It is a great muscle workout if you place about 5 jumps in a row.  You can place these closer and closer until the dog must takeoff immediately after landing without taking any strides.

After your dog is comfortable jumping with you it is time to teach your dog how to work away from you.

1. Get a target.  You are going to need to target train your dog for this.  Get something you can use as a target.  A plate or flat rock works great.
2. Teach the "go" and "here" command.  You are going to use treats and the target to teach your dog the "go" command.  Put your target on the ground a few feet in front of you.  Put a treat on the target and make sure the dog sees it.  When you are ready, command your dog "go" and point VERY CLEARLY WITH YOUR WHOLE ARM towards the target.  It is very important that you point when you tell your dog to go.  In a course there will be any number of ways that your could "go" they will obey your hand signals even more than your voice.  When your dog reaches the target and eats the treat then call them back to you with their name and the "here" command.  (The "here" and "come" commands are different.  When you command your dog "come", it should come directly to you and sit in front of you.  When you command your dog "here" the dog does not need to sit.  The dog just needs to come all the way to you.  Reward them and practice this same thing a few more times.)  After your dog is getting the idea you can slowly start adding more distance between you and the target.  Practice sending your dog to the target from lots of different angles and directions.  Sometimes, don't put a treat on the target.
3. Add a jump.  The point of teaching your dog this is so you can tell them to go to an obstacle and complete it without having to wait for you to get all the way there.  You will start with the target a few feet in front of you again.  In between you and the target place a jump.  Make this jump a little shorter than your dog is used to jumping.   Set up your treat and command your dog "go" "over" and give your hand signal.  Your dog should jump the jump and go to the target.  When you command them "here" they do NOT need to come over the jump again.  Repeat this from different angles and distances until your dog has the idea of going away from you and jumping the jump.  If your dog tries running around the jumps keep the leash on them. Do your best to grab the leash and prevent them from getting the treat unless they go over the jump.  You can guide them to the jump from behind if need be.
4. Remove the target.  After your dog is doing well you can stop placing the target on the other side of the jump.  Just go near a jump and command them "go" "over" and then reward them as soon as possible after they jump it.