# Our Adventures in Directed Jumping



## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

You know how frustrating it is when your dog just doesn't get something? That's been Flip with directed jumping. I just could not get him to understand the exercise (not the go-out part, just the jumping part). He saw the exercise as "get to mom as fast as you can" and if a jump happened to be in the path of the quickest way he would take it, but I could not get him to understand to actually go out of his way to take the jump. I tried every method I had ever heard of or thought of for directed jumping but he just wasn't getting it. He was even starting to show signs of stress! I've posted a lot of things about Flip on this forum, but I don't think stress was ever one of them because it's just not something I normally see from him in training.

And then the more time we would spend on it, the sillier he would get. At one point he ran around the gates I had put up around the jump, came up behind me, slammed into the back of my knees and knocked me to the ground.

So I sent out a desperate message on one of the yahoo groups for new ideas and Lori Drouin, a brilliant trainer from California, was able to give me a new idea I had not tried yet, and I am thrilled to say I am seeing progress! We started last night with the jumps five feet from each other and turned parallel to each other, with Flip and I right in between them. Just since that time I have been able to move the jumps about fifteen feet apart, turn them to a V shape, and put Flip 5 feet past the jumps. PROGRESS!!!!! We still have a long way to go before it is at the finished product, but I am so happy that he seems to get some kind of inkling of what we are supposed to be doing. I knew he was really starting to get the hang of it when tonight he went for the jump, veered off to come towards me instead, but after one step (without any cue from me) he hesitated and went back for the jump.

So what we are doing (besides positioning everything how I described above)is instead of making him think of the exercise as a recall with a jump in it, we turned it into a retrieve with a jump in it. At first it was like marked retrieves because I let him watch me set bumpers out, but now I'm putting them out beforehand so it's more like a blind retrieve. Of course I will have to fade the retrieving part eventually but now that Flip is thinking about getting to the jump instead of getting to me I don't think it will be too hard to fade the retrieve out :crossfing

Anyway, just had to share my excitement over _finally_ seeing some progress in this. Now I can say he has at least a good beginning to all the exercises except the broad jump. I won't start him on that until I'm jumping him full height.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

take up agility!! it makes directed jumping a breeze 
glad to see that you're making progress.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Grins - I do second the agility 

Congratulations on the progress .. umm, don't suppose you'd have a video showing how to make it a retrieve? I do agility and so train it as a jump, but the retrive angle sounds very interesting.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

I third the agility! But it did make me think about our issue with the DJ, which is marking the spot to go out to and sitting. I wonder if I put the table out where she should go out to and sit and then I fade the table? I will try that.

Congrats on the progress!


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Sunrise said:


> Grins - I do second the agility
> 
> Congratulations on the progress .. umm, don't suppose you'd have a video showing how to make it a retrieve? I do agility and so train it as a jump, but the retrive angle sounds very interesting.


Fourth the agility!! I have one guy (Austin) who is the opposite...he won't stop jumping! Where there is a jump bar, over it he goes. The other night at agility, they were supposed to be focusing on going through the tunnel...he went through that and then proceeded to find a jump and tried to go over it but it was tucked away and he couldn't negotiate it.:doh:

I am also interested in the retrieve aspect of it. Right now, I place a ball on the other side of the jump...give him the over command, he retrieves the ball and jumps back over the bar....not sure if this is correct but he loves doing it!!


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

Selli-Belle said:


> I third the agility! But it did make me think about our issue with the DJ, which is marking the spot to go out to and sitting. I wonder if I put the table out where she should go out to and sit and then I fade the table? I will try that.
> 
> Congrats on the progress!


Use clear plastic dowels right up against the uprights. It makes it a retrieve which they love..


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Now that sounds like a neat and creative way to teach this exercise. Glad it is working out for you.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

- I o I -

This is how the set-up started
-=bumper
I=jump
o= dog 

So at first I was basically just casting him to bumpers field work style, but with a jump between the dog and the bumpers. And slowly I'm working towards moving him back, moving the jumps farther apart, and turning the jumps so they are on the same line instead of parallell (currently they are angled towards each other like a V)


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