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Problems with hurdles


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Hello there. I rescued my youngest BC almost a year ago. We started agility training in September. He loves all the obsticals besides the hurdles. Sometimes he just puts on the breaks and smells in front of them. He can easily clear them, as they have him starting out low at 12 inches. Anyone else have/had this problem?

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I'm assuming by hurdle you are talking about the jumps. If that is the case try lowing them to 8 inches so they are easy to step over, then while the dog is on a leash put your dog on one side and you on the other. Use the command you want to mean jump and lure your dog over with food if you need to. Then if you can get your dog going over it reliably raise half the bar to 12 and leave the other side at 8. Then raise the whole bar to 12, then raise the bar the same way again until you get to the desired height.

 

It's possible your dog isn't jumping with good form and it hurts to land, so lowering the bar and slowly raising it can help get their jumping form right.

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He does it no matter the jump height. It doesn't seem that it hurts him landing, because he jumps all over everything at home. Sometimes he runs around me when the jump comes. It's really odd. I think he just doesn't like them because they are boring compared to the other obsticals. We had an issue with the tunnel, but he just got over it. Hopefully this will phase out.

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He does it no matter the jump height. It doesn't seem that it hurts him landint, because he jumps all over everything at home. Sometimes he runs around me when the jump comes. It's really odd. I think he just doesn't like them because they are boring compared to the other obsticals. We had an issue with the tunnel, but he just got over it. Hopefully this will phase out.

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Cass C brought up a good point about the possibility that jumping is hurting. Since you say he is fine at home with jumping, it may not be an issue, but if you continue to train and he still doesn't want to jump, you may want to get it checked out.

 

Is he toy motivated? i.e.will he chase after a ball or other toy?

 

It sounds like he may not know what you want him to do? I like to train jumping by throwing a toy in order to get the dog focusing forward. With him, I would start with the bar on the ground between the 2 jump standards and walk with him between the 2 standards, then trot then run with him. Each time he goes through the standards (with the bar on the ground between them), I would give him a treat or play tug. Then stand on one side of the 'jump' (bar still on ground), about 2 feet away and throw a toy between the standards so he has to run through them to get the toy. Gradually increase the distance that you can stand behind the jump when you throw the toy. At some point, I would start raising the bar (2 inches, 4 inches, etc.) Make sure he is comfortable and consistent at a lower height before you raise the bar.

 

To train handling moves, you don't need to have your dog jumping. You can keep the bar on the ground or very low, but at this point it sounds like he is a bit confused so you have to teach him that it is OK to run between the 2 jump standards.

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I wanted to add that by pain I don't mean the sharp pain that leads to yelping or limping. My dog Lyka was having a similar issue when I was still doing agility with her that she was jumping wrong and she would do two or three jumps and then she would either go around or crawl under the jumps. I asked my trainer about it and she explained to me she had poor form when jumping and it was probably making her front end sore.

 

She was capable of jumping right in everyday situations, but for some reason agility jumps she went over in an awkward way.

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I actually enjoy training jumping, but like a horse the dog needs to learn how to jump well. IMO putting him on leash can lead to problems with form. I use a lure (food, toy etc) and starting low encourage the dog to jump with me luring on the far side of the jump. Be sure to move back so the dog can clear the jump with enough room. If the dog jumps flat (I prefer the 'porpoise in the initial stages) I will use a caveletti to encourage proper take off for the jump.

 

I also do not move on fast, but rather have the dog comfortable before increasing difficulty. I also use a jump chute to encourage continuing to jump.

 

Let the dog create his own 'form' when jumping. When I trained my Lassie, her wedge head meant she had to learn how to 'view' the jump and it took her quite a while. Eventually she came to love jumping and I would use it as a reward for doing other things

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Thank you guys for all your opinions! We do not use a leash in this class, so that isn't really an option. I'll ask my instructor if she thinks his form may be an issue. And here is another issue, he isn't very food motivated and he is only toy motivated around his sister, but he loves agility. I guess it's up to trial and error to see what motivates him and helps him with the hurdle issue.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Mum24dog, relaxing was a big factor in this. Practicing at home made all the difference in this. I'm a calm environment and letting him do it I'm his own time and praising him when he did it helped a ton. We had class on Saturday and he is so excited now to get to do everything. Super happy dog mom over here!

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