Another Day, another NQ in Open

**patm** · 09-12-2010, 07:59 PM

We're something like 1/8 now. Today we had a fairly nice run (they're never really nice because of our heeling), but she walked the broad jump again. However, she was the happiest at a trial that I've seen her in a long time, and we kept it going in the ring. We were actually at a 188 when we got to the broad jump - highest we've ever been. "Funny thing" - it was a large Open B class before us, and they split it in two for the sits and downs. So I was thinking that after that last group, there would be those long sits and down, and I could go "potty" myself, get Emilu out, etc. Then all of a sudden, a steward came over to me and said - "you're next" - the judge decided to put the 3 Open A dogs at the end of Open B and then do the sits and downs together. Yikes! I know they can do this, but it would have been nice to know it a little before "you're up next!" Well - didn't have to worry about warming her up too much and losing her fun. I got her out of the crate, grabbed some cheese, did some "give me 5's and a roll over, and in the ring we went

**brody** · 09-12-2010, 08:17 PM

happy is important - really important to moving towards more qs ...
congrats on that

**MicksMom** · 09-12-2010, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by brody

happy is important - really important to moving towards more qs ...
congrats on that

Ditto that. If it helps any, you aren't alone. Somebody at class mentioned their dog walking over the braod jump to.

**Belles mom** · 09-12-2010, 08:53 PM

Glad her attitude was up! Lately I have seen a lot of the putting of the A class dogs in with the B class. Belle had an awful habit of walking the broad jump in her Open A trials. I finally had to put upside down plastic carpet runners (with teh nobs up) under the broad jump, so that if she walked it, she stepped on the plastic nibs. Or, put folded chicken wire in between the boards. 188 would have been a respectable score!

**patm** · 09-12-2010, 09:39 PM

With Emilu, it's one of those "she never does it in practice " type things. I have started to turn up the middle board, work on just the jumping part and making it fun - running with her, standing in front of the jumpt and calling her over - that type of thing. Even the judge said "oh shucks" when she walked the jump, because she had been doing fairly well up until then. If she does it again in our next show, and I see that she is going to do it, I'm going to walk over and stop her - she can't keep thinking that's it's OK to do this in the ring. And until then, we're going to jump and jump, until she can't imagine doing anything but jumping over those boards.

**brody** · 09-13-2010, 07:53 AM

I was going to ask how much jump training is done for obedience dogs?
I know a dog has to do MUCH MUCH more but I can see how the jumping would cause some stress

(it's very interesting to me that even in agility where more than half of the obstacles will be jumps people often really train everything else and leave the dog to figure out jumping alone)

I'm really big on training jumping in a pretty structured way ... my dogs jump all kinds of strange things and do grid work often (as they jump multiple sequences) so I'm glad you are working a variety of ways

hang in there and I think your strategy of interupting her if it's obvious she's going to walk it is probably a good one ...

**ObedienceLabs4Me** · 09-13-2010, 01:43 PM

Glad her attitude is better. Then the rest will come. See you next week at Parkersburg!

**windycanyon** · 09-14-2010, 01:26 AM

Is she toy motivated? Does she really LIKE to retrieve? Many times, I'll hide my girls' dumbbell (or a toy) at my side. As they commit to the BJ, I'll toss it straight out, and they FLY for it! I also throw "fun dumbbells" for rewards and they love that more than treats, I swear (so much for FF killing a dog's enthusiasm for the retrieve, lol).

I'll be back in the obed ring in a couple weeks. We've been playing at hunt tests instead! Anne

**patm** · 09-14-2010, 06:36 AM

She really likes retrieving in water - maybe I'll put the broadjump at the edge of the pond and have her jump over it into the pond - that should get her excited about it! (just kidding)

We are going to work a little every night on the broad jump so she really knows what she is supposed to do - fun jumps with me, jumping towards me standing at the end and then the "real way" - all with only 2 boards set far apart, so there is alot of grass and tempting to step into to. She has been a dog that the further you have her from the jump, the worse she does. We experimented with distances from the jump last night - she tried to walk it twice, and I took her by the neck (didn't have her collar on), actually took her into the grass and said "no,no", then we finished with a good jump. You know what is going to happen - at our next show she'll fly over the broad jump and screw up something else.

**Milesmom** · 09-14-2010, 12:34 PM

It is funny, we were just discussing in obed class that often, obedience classes neglect to teach a dog how to jump properly. It came up because one of the dogs in my class has a pronounced stutter when he jumps. It is clear he's not comfortable and confident when he jumps despite the fact that he is a very athletic dog. She showed him how to work on rounded jumping with him and to work the broad jump by putting a bar over top of it, forcing him to jump not walk across it until he learns.

People seem to struggle with the broad jump, even in agility. It is no mystery because no one ever (at least around here) seems to want to get them out an use them.

Pat, just make sure that as you work through the broad jump issue, you don't neglect the other skills (especially heeling and DOR). It's easy to forget about the things you think you have down pat.