# Metre Hurdle in SchH



## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

I was going to "jump" Howard Gaines thread about pre-agility but thought better of it.

I always taught my dogs to jump over jumps of about 50 - 60 cm when they were younger, moving up to 1 m as soon they were physically well developed. Definitely no retrieving over the jumps at this stage. My idea was to have them follow the command and not just leap after the dumbell.

The other night we had a discussion with a club member who is an international performance judge and very experienced. He teaches the dog to jump over the 1 metre jump *first*, also without retrieving, and, when the retrieving is 100%, he makes him retrieve over 50-60 cm jumps, stepping it up to 1 m.

This way he says, the dog will never "scrape" the jump thereby eliminating all those clever devices to make sure he doesn't. We have two kangaroos who jump higher than they have to anyway so I'm wondering what others think.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I'd agree on that. I like canine high jump. Fun stuff. 

Anyhow, I've noticed that my dogs have a harder time with the low jumps (under 36") than the higher jumps (over 48"). The dog in my avatar will kick 12", 18" and 24" jumps everytime, but has no problem with anything between 42" and 50." Go figure.

Teaching correct jumping form seems to be the most important part for getting good jumping. 

Some "kangaroo" jumpers have narrow jump arcs and will start kicking the jump when retrieving or when it's raised. These dogs need to learn to jump away from the hurdler (using hoops, sticks) then bring the jump back to the hurdle. Changing the jump height can mask or lessen the problems, but won't solve them.


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