Clean Run Magazine - March 2007 - 80

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quietly in their crates while waiting their turn. To keep class moving
along, teach the dogs in crates how to wait patiently and encourage the
students to work together. T h e student who is working her dog is shaping
the dog to go over the jump. I follow Linda Mecklenburg’s articles and
start with a low jump. I modify the exercise for each dog as to how fast
the jump goes to full height, and whether luring is needed initially. The
student without a dog, shown here in green, is there to be sure the other
handler is rewarding her dog appropriately. This exercise gives the
nonworking student an opportunity to observe the process without having to
concentrate on her own dog. The dog works for only a minute or two and then
teams are switched with the observer and her dog replacing the active
handler. The instructor moves between the groups, answering questions and
looking for proper placement of the reward as well as troubleshooting
where needed. tall, squarely built dog can easily bounce 5' . Instead of
jump bars, use 4 and 8 PVC pipe cut in half lengthwise, or jump bumps.
You’ll usually have to go to a plumbing specialty store to find the 8
pipe, but you can find 4 pipe in most hardware stores. For jumps #1 and
#3, use 4 jump bumps and for jumps #2 and #4, use 8 jump bumps. Using the
jump bumps helps to prevent carpal injuries. While the dog is learning, he
may land or jump on a bar. A regular bar will roll under the dog’s paw
and may cause it to hyperextend. The jump bumps that are cut in half will
not roll and are much safer to use. The dogs should have a reliable
sit-stay at this point in training. To begin this exercise, the handler
puts the dog in a sit-stay in front of the first jump. The dog should sit
fairly close so he does not have to take a stride into the grid. Taking
strides into the grid is a more advanced exercise and should not be done
the first time through. The handler, while facing forward, leads out past
the last “jump,” and releases the dog. This enables the student to
gain a proper position at the end of the jump grid that will 2 6' 6' 9' be
consistent when she starts to handle the same type of sequence on course. I
do not have the handler stand at the beginning of the jump grid and send
the dog to a target or a toy, since I do not want to encourage the dog to
ignore handler position. This exercise is performed individually and does
take up a bit of class time. Ideally, you should work through this
exercise until the students understand the idea, and then set it up off to
the side so they can work on it anytime during the class. The purpose of
this exercise is for the dog to learn to find his own rhythm through the
jump grids. As the instructor, you can also use it to discover potential
problems, such as a lack of foundation skills or structural issues that
could affect the dog later on. For homework, I encourage students to
continue with shaping a jump over the next week while working their way up
to the dog’s full jump height. I keep myself available for students if
they have any questions so they can contact me between classes if needed.
» Grid or gymnastic work with bounce jumps or jump bumps Note: This
exercise is adapted from a Susan Salo workshop I attended a few years ago.
There may be differences in her current technique. For medium to large
dogs, set four jumps in a grid with 6' intervals between jumps #1 and #2
and jumps #2 and #3, and 9' between jumps #3 and #4 as shown in Figure 2.
For smaller dogs you will need to play with the distance between jumps for
example, my 10 » Troubleshooting • If the dog goes around the jump grid,
break it down and have the handler call the dog over one jump bump and
reward, then over two jump bumps and reward, and so on. • Be sure the
handler continues to reward the dog’s sit-stay. Set up the jump bumps as
shown. For jumps #1 and #3, use 4 jump bumps and for jumps #2 and #4, use 8
jump bumps. • Present the motivator, toy or food, low to encourage the
dog to keep his head down low. WEEK 2 » Continued shaping over the jump
Continue with the shaping exercises over the jump. The dogs should be
almost at their full competition jump height if the students are able to
practice at home during the week. I still keep the students in pairs,
being sure to change their partners every week. They will learn something
new with each different pairing since the feedback will be different with
every dog. Even a more experienced student will learn from a less
experienced one; however, I do not hesitate to put two novice handlers
together. 80 » Grids and adding bars As an instructor, you have to assess
each dog individually. If the dog is quite successful at jumping the jump
bumps and going down the line confidently, start to add bars. Keep them
low at first, in the pattern of 8 -12 -8 12 , then start gradually varying
the height: for example, 8 -12 -8 -16 or 12 -16 -8 -12 or 8 -12 -12 -16 .
Keep the dogs thinking and modify the exercise to the dogs’ ability. As
you progress you will also want to vary the distance between jumps and add
a fifth jump. As you vary the distance, be sure to lower the jump height at
first to keep the dogs confident. This is vital in the early stages of
training because you want confident, happy dogs. The number of times you
send the dogs down the grid depends on each individual dog; three to five
times is the norm. You may be working through a certain distance and see
the dog just starting to figure out his rhythm at the fifth set so one
more may be in order. One dog may have a phenomenal run at the third set
so may choose to stop there. It is a judgment call on the instructor’s
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Clean Run Magazine - March 2007

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