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jumping - how much is too much?


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I was going to start Lightning in some agility lessons back in the fall, but the instructor postponed until springtime. In the meantime, I've been working on teaching him some obstacles myself. He jumps my horse jumps, the tire jump we built, and goes through a short tunnel. I bought some weave poles but we haven't attempted them yet. I was wondering though, how much jumping, and how often is safe for him? And also, what heights? Is there an average height that would be good to work at, and what about high jumps? He bounds effortlessly over the jumps and enjoys it immensely, but I don't want to overdo it and hurt him.

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Lightning is a little over a year old. He was born Jan. 27 2005. He's about 24" tall and is well muscled and in great physical shape after dogsledding all winter. He weighs about 55-56 pounds and his condition is just right for his build. He's got long legs, and a deep chest that narrows into the waist. You can't see his ribs but you can easily feel them. He's got some lab in him, but he's not at all "labby" looking. Although he's muscled, he carries it all in the shoulder and hip areas, he doesn't have that thicker lab body and shorter leg.

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Until more like 18 months keep jumping at elbow hight or less. For 8 months and under I keep the jumps at ankle hight or less.

 

At 24" a the shoulder he would jump 26"-20" in a competition (depending on the place) but for practice I keep jumps usually at 8" for handling practice (i.e. people training) and if I am working the dog (verses working me) I do jumps around 12" 16" for a dog that is about 18-19" at the shoulder. I don't like to jump Dazzle a lot at 20" - her competition height - but then again, she never knocks bars so.....

 

But for now anyway - at that young age, I would keep jumps around 16" and below for that dog.

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Thanks! Any suggestions as to how often I should or should not be working him over jumps? He is so eager about everything we do, he just can't wait for more whether it's the jumping, flyball, dogsledding, whatever. We can finish with one thing and right away he's like "What next? What next?"

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With an average pup - they never ever want to stop.

 

With a BC (or mix! :rolleyes: ) pup or not - they never ever want to stop.

 

So to keep them safe we have to say when enough is enough. More, short training is always best. For constant drilling on full courses (jumpers or standard) - no more then 15-30 minutes or so. But for contact training, training on the flat, basic jump/handling training the dogs can handlemuch longer before they should take a break (if jumps are lower). But if you have jumps at the full 24", only 5-10 minutes. On a course you only spend 20-40 seconds with the jumps that high - to long with them that high will start to be hard on the joints.

 

Maybe all those times made sense, maybe not. It is too late - I have GOT to go to bed! :D

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Agree with Kat's dogs on keeping things a bit limited. You want to still be doing agility with him for years to come, so keep things safe now.

 

I'd be doing plenty of contact foundation work - you'll find some stuff on the net, or in the Clean Run contact edition of the magazine - and doing plenty of foundation work on having Lightning follow your hand, and learn to swap sides etc.

 

Some target training is good fun - and you can teach him to go out to a target independently - a good foundation for distance work.

 

In other words, probably rather more stuff for his brain and his working as a team member with you, and rather less on the jumping. This should set him up nicely for lessons, and will keep him occupied and safe.

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Thanks everyone! I want to keep him active and enjoying himself, but I want him to be safe and sound too.

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Since you are in Canada (me too!), I guess you would most probably be competing in AAC later on? For Lightning's height, he would have to jump 26" in AAC regular division. Or you can put him in the specials division and jump one height lower at 22". My BC pup is almost the same age as Lightning (born Feb 03 2005). We usually practice jumping at 16". (She's shorter than Lightning though.)

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I guess I have a slightly different opinion here about jump height. I do not jump my dogs below their competition height. My little border collie jumps 20" or 22" in trials, and we practice at 22" and 26". My aussie, who's a vet, jumps 16". My big border collie, who is just learning agility, went from bars on the ground to 26" in a 10 minute session.

 

My reasoning is that I don't want my dogs to flatten out. I like a nice bascule, a thoughtful approach to the jump, and a brisk snapping of the forelegs under the chin. At 16" and below, my border collies would take the jumps like flyball jumps, which is good for flyball, but not what I want in agility.

 

I expect that my dogs can approach, take off, and clear a jump, regardless of what I'm doing. I am one of those handlers who signals over the bar (or, in an infamous run, fell and broke my nose as my dog was in the home stretch of a fabulous Jumpers run), and I do not worry about the bar coming down.

 

To the OP, we don't practice very much (couple of times a month) so I'm not worried about injuries from high reps. My dogs didn't start training until they were fully grown (Bear at 3, Wick at about 2, Lou at 4). The majority of injuries incurred by my dogs are the result of running into trees (Wick and Lou) or fence running to the point of muscle fatigue (Bear). :rolleyes:

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