Trying Out Our New Obedience Jumps!`

We got our nice new Obedience Jumps*** last month, but haven't had the weather to try them out.

Until today that is. :D

Most of this was all new stuff to Kedge. We've done dumbell work on flat ground before. I only practice it with him for a few minutes, maybe every couple of weeks, since he picked it up so fast(no pun intended). I was proud and impressed that he instantly knew to jump the bar both on the fetch and then on the retrieve.












This was his 3rd retrieve, and you can tell he was distracted by Tori coming out to ask me something. Still jumped nicely though. :)



I then put the dumbell away and practiced a recall over the jump. This time you can see that he ticked it and pushed the bar down a bit. No problem, I just brought him back with no reward and had him do it again. Bingo on the 2nd try and jackpot with treats!



Then we sent up the broad jumps. Today was the first time he's even seen them, let alone used them. So we had them pretty close together. For the first couple of times, I actually placed the bar jump in the middle so that he got the idea that these were to JUMP over instead of walk over. I probably should have taken pictures of that, but was more focused on starting off on the right foot than the photos.

Here is Kedge's first jump without the bar jump in the middle. Pretty nice! :)



Yep, doing nicely!




Then, to confuse the poor guy, I tried to have Tori run him through so that I could get a jump shot from the side. We did baby steps with Tori standing next to me, but with me calling him over. Then I had Tori call him, while I was standing there, then finally I went to the side and had her call him by herself.


First time was great!




2nd time... Hmmm Maybe the kid won't notice if I run on the side. ;) I just had her bring Kedge back to the start, with no treats, and try it again.



3 try, better! Jackpot and treats!


4th Try, hmm maybe I can run around the other side and just jump the last two? (again, I had her bring him back to the beginning, and retry)



Then last try was beautiful, so we jackpotted with the treats and ended it on a good note!
Good job, Kedgeroo!


Afterwards we did do some wrap work that I was told to practice for our agility class, but I didn't get any pictures of that since "I" am still learning and its hard enough for me to remember where to put my feet and hands, that I couldn't possibly work the camera at the same time! lol All in all, I think we had a great first day of working with our new Jumps! :D

***We got our jumps and weaves from Dina Whitehouse at K9 Fun Works Dog Obedience Equipment. Shipping was fast and she was pleasant to deal with. For more info go to http://k9funworks.com/