In light of VC's mandate <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> which I agree with.
My GSD Thunder is now almost 17 months old. He's very athletic, light on his feet, yadda, yadda, yadda!
How do I determine if he's ready to begin jumping heights? He's jumped elbow high since he was about 6 months old, but only enough for him to understand the mechanics of jumping. He's a natural, smooth jumper. It's always been suggested to wait for them to mature. Ok, he's got his shtz together but what can I do/see in him that tell me he's physically ready fo it?

Are you x-raying him? I was told to wait for growth plates to close which happens around 18 months or so.....

I have not xrayed at this point. I was just wondering if there was something else I could be aware of other than a given age.
From a jump training standpoint, is there any reason to jump him at the meter height other than in competition. I have no doubt he can clear much higher than that. As I say, he's a very natural jumper.

Other than the usual mandates about age for jumping, I can't think of any other thing to look out for the jumps. There is a mandate about the dogs height in relation to the jump height from the AKC, but I don't know if that is based on scientific fact, or soft regulation.

I would take it easy and slow at first, the do occasional full height jumps. To never do full height may be bad training, to do nothing but is poor ownership.

Any Ringsoport people have any advice? The scaling wall is a really steep jump; any suggestions/caveats?

I generall warm up prior, to get my dogs ready, and prevent injury.

Coming from Agility (which is mostly jumps), the safety issue comes with growth plates closed in both front and rear. The hips close last so if you want to X-ray you can just get the hips done, if they are closed they are all closed. Rule of thumb they will absolutely be closed at 24 months, they may or may not be closed at 18 months.

I spend a LOT of time 'teaching' my dog to jump properly. That is from any angle and driving from the rear. Again 80-90% of any agility course is jumps that we can hit from any direction so that is where we spend a lot of our focus. Because of the time I spend teaching jumping, we can jump any height effectively. When I take train, I may start out at full height then drop the height down to work on other areas without her getting tired out from jumping full height.

Linda

 Quote:

Coming from Agility (which is mostly jumps), the safety issue comes with growth plates closed in both front and rear.

And that seems like so much common sense...but as a newbie I was chided on the training field by a TD for "babying" my 6 month old pup by lifting her up and down from the 250 truck bed.

Seemed to me having a dog that young jump 3-4 feet (especially down) from the truck several times during a training session was just asking for joint problems. Unfortunately, it was testimony to my then insecurity as a trainer that I would do my lifting out of his sight! Now-a-days I would simply tell him to stuff it...

And how many times I've seen club trained dogs take a flying leap from the top of a schutzhund "wall" (A-frame)? Looks impressive and oft times the handler/owner will tout it as evidence of the dogs drive. But common sense tells me that enough of such jumping is going to take it's toll on leg and shoulder ligaments. And drive is not going to keep wear and tear at bay.

IMHO, it's one thing for a working K9 to need to take such a jump occasionally in performing his duty, quite another for a sport dog to do it over and over for points. Teaching a dog to scale down the wall properly is not that difficult, especially now that the wall is at a much less steep angle than years ago.
Agility folks teach proper scaling as a matter of course.

Thanks everyone
It souldns like it's xrays or take it easy for another 5-6 months. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

How highdo you want him to go? I think that as long as you are not doing it every day you should be fine. If he is jumping up on to something, I wouldn't worry at all at his age. I think that it is repetitive jumping that is going to get you into trouble. Mondio has the ramp on the back of the wall, so once your dog understands to run up the wall and not jump over it, I don't worry about stressing joints too much with as little that I do it.