Advanced Dog Tricks: Teaching Your Dog The High Jump

Training your dog to high jump is not as hard as you may think that it is. After all, dogs love to jump around and have fun; and by doing the high jump they will certainly be having fun!

Getting Started

In order to teach your dog how to jump, you will first need something that they can actually jump over. Especially designed agility jumps are a good idea but you can also try to make your own too if you need to save money.

Once you have the jumps in front of you, make sure that you select their lowest height to start with. You cannot expect your dog to just jump straight over the jumps at their highest point straight away. Also, make sure that the jumps are around ten feet apart. Obviously it depends upon how big your dog is as to how high and wide the jumps should be so accommodate the best that you can for your dog.

In order to teach your dog how to jump over the jumps, simply walk them over to the middle of the jump and stop a few feet away. Tell them to ‘Stay’ and then enthusiastically walk towards the jump, point to it and say something along the lines of ‘jump’ or ‘hop’ or ‘up’, anything that you want to so that your dog understands what you want them to do.

At your command the dog should jump over the jump and as soon as they do you need to praise them and tell them they are a ‘Good dog’. This exercise will need to be repeated a few times just to make sure that your dog fully understands the command. However do not overdo it as your dog will only dog train and follow your commands if they are fun to do, they will soon get fed up and that could be detrimental to the training process.

Come back to the same exercise the same day but only repeat it once this time. Then move the dog on to another bar jump and give them the command to go over it. They should do this if you have not over trained them and if you are enthusiastic enough once again. As soon as they do go over the jump, again praise them and tell them that they are a ‘Good Dog’. The next step once your dog has mastered this is to higher the height of the jumps.

Make the jumps around 18 feet apart this time and start the dog off further away from the jump. You should not have to show the dog what to do anymore and a command is all that it should take for the dog to go over the jump. However if they don’t it is important not to tell them off, simply repeat the exercise and if they still do not want to do it then do not force them. If the dog has mastered the command then the next day you can move on to a more structured jumping method.

Structuring Your Dogs Jumping Method

By using a more structured method of jumping you will be placing more distance between yourself and your dog. This is an ideal training method if you would like to enter your dog into jumping competitions.

You need to first give your dog the command to sit and stay when they are around 15 feet away from the Standard High Jump. Go over to the opposite side of the jump and give your dog the jump command. You should ideally repeat it once more but as you do, walk a few feet left once your dog has started to jump. Once they land turn to face them and then ideally repeat around three more times just so that the dog knows what they are doing.

The next training session should involve placing your dog in a sit stay, again 15 feet away from the jump. Walk behind the jump facing your dog and then step to your left before giving a hand signal, as well as giving the command for the dog to jump. If at any time your dog decides that they would rather run to you than the jump, simply block them and try and guide them towards the jump. At this stage in the training it is possible to life the dog over the jump if needed (depending of course upon how big the dog is!). You should try and repeat this session around 3 times before finishing.

When it comes to the next training sessions you should ideally start to move further away from the jumps. This is to test your dog to see if they will go over the jumps without you being so close to them. It will teach them that there is no danger in going over the jump when you are not there and it will help in competitions.

Finally you need to focus more upon the dog’s position. So make sure that you place the dog to your left and give them the sit stay command. Make your way directly opposite the dog, by the jumps and then be as enthusiastic as you can be whilst telling them to go over the jump. Repeat a couple of times before calling it a day and that is how you train your dog the structured method.

Overall if you follow the tips above you should easily be able to teach your dog to do the high jump. Just remember to practice and do not overdo it in the beginning.

source: https://petanimalworld.com/dog-obedience-tips-how-to-effectively-train-your-dog/