April 27, 2009

Dazzle's first jumps

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Well, his first official training jumps! Dazzle has always been "bouncy" and loves to jump at every opportunity. But now I have started to teach him the proper mechanics of jumping.
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I'm using what I learned from Susan Salo's DVD's and I think her methods make a lot of sense. She teaches the dog's the way horses are taught. Teaching them first how to find and be comfortable with the proper take-off spot for a jump. This prevents the dog from hitting the jump with his front feet because he left the ground too late and prevents hitting with the back feet because the dog took off too soon and couldn't stay in the air long enough.
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Once the dog can find the proper spot in a straight line, curves are added to teach the dog how to curve his body so that landings are straight. This prevents undue stress on the dog's joints and back. Then the dog is taught to WANT to seek out the jump and to jump even if the jumps are not perfectly aligned. Distance between the jumps is varied slightly to make the dog figure out how to adjust his stride and speed properly.
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Then after the dog has mastered the mechanics, height is added into the mix and the training sequence is repeated with a few higher jumps in the mix. If a dog is jumping properly, they can be VERY fast, but it won't look like they are really fast because they are so fluid it looks effortless and easy.
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Dazzle is very flexible, athletic and enjoys jumping. I don't think he will have trouble figuring out how to adjust his stride and timing and to seek out a jump :-) So I'm looking forward to this training, but I'm going to take it slow and only do a few jumps during each session. He's still young and his growth plates aren't closed so I don't want to over-do it with repetition, even at a low height.
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You can see VIDEO of his first jumps (including slow motion at the end so you can really see his form) here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF9f649a3u8
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I love the slow motion because that's when I can really SEE how he's doing. The first jump is just a "set-point" that Susan calls a facilitator. It's never more than 4-6" high. The second jump and the dog's approach to it are what is really being looked at regarding form. I see from watching the videos that I set him way too far back from the set-point. He should have been right up to it so that his landing between the obstacles was more to the middle. Dazzle's back is more flat than rounded like it should be because he is having to stretch to get to the jump (my fault.)
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After I put him on a stay and get to the far side, I am dropping a ball for him to focus on. The toy on the ground helps keep his head down and when he takes off at the right spot, his back will be rounded.
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