# Working on jumps in Rally...



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Make a jump to train with at home - and keep jumps low. You don't need big jumps for rally. <= I don't remember the rules but doubt she'd be jumping more than 12" for rally. 

If it helps - here's a quick instruction thingy that I did for somebody else. 

If you can get somebody to just cut a piece of vinyl siding (since you only need 1 4 x 10 piece) - you can get this really put together very cheaply. 

Even with the $12-15 or whatever it was for the vinyl siding, the entire jump was about $20 bucks to make. 

For training - I'd just do treat toss jumps to motivate her. 

That's standing in front of the jump with her and training her to jump UP over the jump. You will stay in front of the jump and call her to come and as she jumps back - you are tossing a treat back behind you to reward. 

So toss treat forward to send her over and treat toss behind to draw her back. Try not to throw until she's in the air so she's not learning to cheat.

For rally - a lot of people just teach the jog by jumps (where you are running and the dogs jump because the jump's in their path), but I do remember they have "send to jump" commands in advanced (or maybe it's excellent - I forget) which need to be trained anyway.

Jovi is working on 14-16" jumps. By the time he's 15-18 months old, we will start bumping that up to 20" and then 24" after clearances. 

You can see in the pic - with 10" jumps he's kinda trotting over instead of jumping.


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

Megora said:


> Make a jump to train with at home - and keep jumps low. You don't need big jumps for rally. <= I don't remember the rules but doubt she'd be jumping more than 12" for rally.
> 
> If it helps - here's a quick instruction thingy that I did for somebody else.
> 
> ...


Thank you. I will look into that for home. I might even have some vinyl siding here I can use. We are going to *hopefully* finish our third leg end of August as no other shows work w/ my work schedule until then. I did decide today after intermediate we are going to take a break from trials until spring to work on “off leash” in ring/the jump.

She just turned one, will likely have her second heat September-November time frame...then a spay at some point prior to spring, so lots of time to “get the jump right.” This might help making jumping fun to her because she’s pretty good with targets/Platforms/place because we made it a game. Just have to figure out how to make that little jump “fun.” Don’t think my lab would like to be her “jump.” Haha


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

Do very low jumps to start. Low enough for her to walk over. Walk over it with her on leash. The more she understands and gains confidence the less help you give and the higher the jump gets. Mine “jump” a short jump when they are babies. Making a jump for home like this one is a great idea!


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

Abeille said:


> Do very low jumps to start. Low enough for her to walk over. Walk over it with her on leash. The more she understands and gains confidence the less help you give and the higher the jump gets. Mine “jump” a short jump when they are babies. Making a jump for home like this one is a great idea!


Part of me thinks it’s a “mental” block w/ her because when she’s chasing balls in the house, she has an excellent ability to leave her toys in her path. And when she sees them she “jumps” over them to avoid while going after the ball. It’s the funniest thing. So maybe if I use this in an area where she has to go over it to get the ball, or no ball, will be an option? 

I know one of her “aunt” dogs hates the jump in Rally. And in reality...if we never make it past Intermediate...the world won’t end lol


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I would just make the jumps and set them up out in your lawn area (somewhere where if she jumps, it's soft landing for her elbows). 

You are teaching her the "jump" command and getting her used to going over a jump. And again because she's young and growth plates may be closing still - keep the jumps low. 

There are two reasons why a dog might be going around a jump -

1. they haven't been trained yet that the jump is a route vs an obstacle. This is why having something close to the site picture and situation on a rally course helps.

2. there is some discomfort in jumping. If she persists in not liking jumps and shows strong aversion - I wouldn't push it.


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

Megora said:


> I would just make the jumps and set them up out in your lawn area (somewhere where if she jumps, it's soft landing for her elbows).
> 
> You are teaching her the "jump" command and getting her used to going over a jump. And again because she's young and growth plates may be closing still - keep the jumps low.
> 
> ...


Inside would actually be softer landing for her because I have plush carpeting. As far as the reasons I’m leaning towards 1 because I’ve started blocking off access to furniture because she realized she can jump on it and jump off it thanks to my friend’s children. 

I just filled out getting a fob for my training facility so I can dedicate 6 months in a ring w/ a jump as much as I want to do outside club training hours. Outdoors at my house is her in overdrive with her nose due to the vast array of woodland creatures. And birds...oh how she loves to watch her birds...


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

We are still struggling with this. She HATES the jump. She tries to go around every time. We had course class today and she goes over it with zero urgency or like it’s going to bite her. And apparently for a golden it has to be 24” high in rally. She gets to it and stops dead in her tracks.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Jmcarp83 said:


> We are still struggling with this. She HATES the jump. She tries to go around every time. We had course class today and she goes over it with zero urgency or like it’s going to bite her. And apparently for a golden it has to be 24” high in rally. She gets to it and stops dead in her tracks.


Shouldn't be 24".... unless they changed the rules.

Should be about 16" for a golden who jumps 24" in regular obedience (23.5"+).

Your girlie if she's correct height will jump 22" in regular obedience.

I don't know how that breaks down for dogs who are less than 23.5, but if rules for jumps are the same as they were the last time I did rally - she'd jump 16" tops.

I have Jovi jumping 22/48 in regular obedience (in training). At some point I will up his high jump to 24", but there's no rush. He is currently doing both high jumps and broad jumps - but I still reinforce the jumps every training session with treat toss jumps.

Treat toss jumps =

Set up in front of jump (initially lower jump to 12" if dog is poor jumper or just beginning to learn how to jump), rev your dog up and take her by the collar and take her to the jump and send her over - toss a treat. Call her back and toss a treat the other way as soon as she commits to the jump.

As she gets more confident, jump height goes up. If she needs more confidence, jump height goes down.

Once a dog learns to go around a jump - it's tough to break that habit.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

^^^She'd jump 16 per the above breakdown.


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

Maybe I misheard when I was working on jumps lol. We practiced some
At home and then just practiced some jumping into the pool. Dog probably hates the word “jump” by now ?


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

Work on short jumps. Keep it 8 inches Or so. Height will come later. I agree with tossing treats. Or even a toy. Her competition jump height depends on her height. Both of mine are correct but on the smaller side. In obedience, my girl jumps 20 and my boy 22. Mine “jump” while they are puppies. We set the jump very low, like around 4 inches, so they are really stepping over but they get the idea about going over it.


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

We have been practicing in my hallway! Lol she has no choice but to turn around or go over! And I’ve jumped over with her (holding her collar) while telling her to jump height is probably 12” and she’s doing it. I’m glad I live in a house in the middle of nowhere because The weird ways we train are not seen ?


I fully anticipate about 6-8 trials to complete 3 legs this level. ?

Another question: do they put stuffed toys in the distraction bowls in sign 108 in trials? Or just/food treats? The treats didn’t bother her when we did ours but man did those stuffies entice her. ??‍♀?


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Jmcarp83 said:


> We are still struggling with this. She HATES the jump. She tries to go around every time. We had course class today and she goes over it with zero urgency or like it’s going to bite her. And apparently for a golden it has to be 24” high in rally. She gets to it and stops dead in her tracks.


You need something that will really, really motivate her. With my dog it's food, with others it's toys. It has to be something she really wants. Get a human helper, set up the jump (low height - 8 or 10 inches) in your hallway (where she has no option but to go over). Get your helper to hold her by the collar, then go to the other side of the jump with the motivating object and "rev her up". E.g. "Do you want this?" "Come and get it," etc. Wait until she's really pulling hard to get away from your helper. Then signal your helper to release her, and at the same time turn and run away from her, so she really has to hustle to catch you and get the motivator as her reward. Once she's playing the game well at home, you can transfer it to your training room. When you do this, make sure you set her up with your helper fairly close to the jump at first, so she can't go around it. If she goes round the jump, don't give the reward - just take her back and start over, a bit closer to the jump. Gradually increase the distance from the jump, then phase out the helper and run alongside her. Then start increasing the jump height. I did this with my dog (using a bowl of cheese pieces or cooked chicken) to build speed over jumps in agility, and it worked well.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I start building value for the jump in several ways (I usually use medium value food)

Low jumps beginning stages:

Straddle the jump with pup on a sit. Lead over the jump with a treat, quickly progress to tossing the treat
Stand on the other side of the jump and recall over to the reward
Stand with your dog and introduce the hand signal (used for both focus on the jump not me, and the jump itself) as you run alongside
for Rally you also need a send ahead to the jump so I use the food toss from the active hand (Rally = left hand)
You will also need to train both catching up to heel and returning to heel (with and without your forward motion). These can be trained with pylons or other markers and then introduced to the actual jump.
I tend to train from many aspects from the beginning and introduce distractions as soon as my dog starts having value for the jump -- one of the distractions you need to address early is taking the jump when you are close by but have NOT cued it -- a simple OOPS, let;s try that again does it for my dogs,

As mentioned in Rally the jumps stay low. If you plan on Obedience, there are additional steps but the above will most likely do for Rally.

It is about value for the jump. If your dog has learned to go around jumps or dislikes jumps and you have ruled out a physical cause (eyesight, hip/back/shoulder pain), start with a high value treat and some really great personal play & praise when your dog succeeds. Some dogs might benefit from being hungry when you train (you need to play with this since they may be so intent on the food they miss the central lesson). Stick to just a few jumps for the first several sessions so your dog really wants to get back to the next session with a jump.

I personally always allow my dog a choice, so I don't block access to wrong choices. They simply get reset if they go around or refuse to jump, with a non-reward marker like 'oops'. After 2 failures, I would simplify by standing closer to the jump or going back to an earlier step etc

And yes, you could certainly use the ball but I wouldn't toss it very far since you want her to jump collected (that is in a rounded fashion where she won't land 10 feet out from the jump). So maybe lure her with the ball while you are straddling the jump, then step over the jump on her landing side to start a game of retrieve separate from the jump itself


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

I feel like I probably created a need for her not to jump. She wasn’t allowed on the furniture as a puppy. She had an ottoman to climb on to then climb onto the bed. Granted, she’s 18 months old but if you watch her get on a couch (because she’s a rebel lol) she does it one paw at a time. She will jump into car but it takes coaxing. I’ve had people stop me to ask if I’m having a problem like I’m kidnapping her!! But she hates the car. She tried dock diving this weekend and wasn’t a fan of jumping into the clear water. But mad she couldn’t just keep swimming. I know she has an aunt who hates the jumps too in rally/obedience. There’s nothing physically wrong with her...I think part of it is fear or it’s stubbornness. Or just that she doesn’t need to do it (in her head). 

We’ve been practicing in the hallway with send over and she’s doing about 14”. Practicing also with her being called over. I’m okay with working on it. I’m not going to be doing any trials for months because I have the new puppy coming. We are just doing a course class on Saturdays for winter!


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