I found a lot about warm-up, massage, stretching and cool-down, but not a whole a lot of information about physical conditioning for jumping.

Does anyone know of exercises for physical conditioning that would help for jumping?

The dog is over 2 years old (exact age unknown), lab/pit mix. He is currently clearing 58". We do disc freestyle twice daily for a full body workout. We jump about once a week or so.

I do agility... in my opinion, the best way to condition a dog for jumping is to jump it, but I may be old fashioned.

Working triple jumps (3 ascending bars) and spread jumps can help to improve jumping form. Good jumping form = less injuries. Exposing your dog to all sorts of different jumps (wood, PVC, natural, manmade, single-bar, spread, triple, broad, plank, tire, whatever) will make him a very confident jumper and teach him to think about what he's propelling himself over. A "thinking jumper" is a very good thing.

Other than that, just keep him physically fit. Run a lot.

Teaching a dog to sit upright on its back legs ("sit pretty") or bounce on its hind legs can supposedly help with building those muscles, but I doubt its ever been proven.

Good luck.

This dog is completely lacking in the thinking department! My other dog is a thinker and jumps on cue. This one that I'm working with on jumping now blindly throws himself over things trying to get a ball or disc. Thankfully, his form is nice.

I will try the sit pretty/beg position and see if/how tht affects his jumps.

Thanks!

 Quote: anne vaini

This dog is completely lacking in the thinking department!

Hey, I've got one of those!

Another safety tip (now that my leash burn is healing)... be careful when training your dog to return over a jump. I have just started this, using technique of sending him over the jump for dumbbell, then me running up to jump and tapping it with hand, saying "hup", then backing up.

Yesterday I needed to move the jump...grabbed a post in each hand...dog (86-lb GSD) was standing directly on the other side of jump... he must have thought I wanted him to jump...he did, at point blank range... our foreheads met...I saw stars

Seriously, though... At the recent Bernhard Flinks clinic in Ohio, he showed us his technique for teaching dogs to jump "long", rather than straight up and down over a jump. He does this to lessen chance of injury (to dog).

What he does is starting with a low jump - it has to be a board jump, i.e. made with boards at least around 1" thick -- he balances a thin board horizontally on top of the vertical boards. So the jump is a sort of "T". Initially the thin board is wide (2'?).

With the jump set low, the dog can see the horizontal board, and this naturally prompts the dog to take a longer jump. If the dog hits the thin board on the near side of the jump, the board pops him on the nose or thereabouts. If the dog hits the board on the far side of the jump, it pops him in the butt. The board should be light enough not to harm the dog, by the way.

Once the dog gets the idea, start both raising the jump height and making the horizontal board less wide. Eventually, at the full Schutzhund height, the horizontal board is only a few inches across.

The idea is to get the dog in the habit of taking a long jump. This puts less strain on the front legs, as they don't have to absorb shock of a vertical landing. Also Flinks said it's easier for older dogs to jump long rather than straight up and down.

I'm trying to figure out how to adapt this idea to a jump made with thin vinyl siding rather than wooden planks for the vertical... I can't store or lug around a heavy wooden jump where I am... ideas welcomed.

I used jump sticks/jump rings to redo my other dog's jump arc. It worked beautifully. I started by holding the two rings together, then gradually spacing them apart until they were 2 - 3 feet apart and she was jumping long through both. Then I switched to Jump sticks and did the same. Then used 1 jump stick and the hurdle, then faded out the jump stick.

Can you make that with PVC pipe? (Cut out a notch on the horizontal piece so it can balance) My old jump was PVC. It was nice and lightweight. This year I built a new wood frame one because the old PVC one I had only went up to 54." If you can manage a wooden one, I recommend it.

Anne, your reply just made me slap myself on my forehead (not a good idea, it still hurts from the other day :cry and say "Duh!". I realized the jump (bought second-hand) also came with a square bar. I had put it in the garage and forgotten it. That bar is about 4" square and perfect for balancing an extra piece of siding on. I also have an old jump stick left over from my previous dog.

Thanks for jolting my memory!

Anita

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Does anyone know of exercises for physical conditioning that would help for jumping?

Running/walking up hill. Running down hill not so good for the dog over the long term though.

Cheers,

How do I get the dog up the hil with out going back down Thanks much, I know the perfect spot to work on this.

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How do I get the dog up the hil with out going back down

I am the first to admitt this can be tricky. You could try this one for the winter:

Have the dog run up a ski run while you sit back and get a lift:



Then teach the dog to drive himself back down with the snowmobile while you go inside for a hot chocolat


Cheers,