This post is concerning how to teach a Finnish Hound to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “How many jumps is best to start with?” You can never have enough single jumps to teach agility. A good starting place is 4 jumps. This is the minimum number of jumps that we recommend.
How to Teach a Finnish Hound jumping: Start with Four
You can teach a Finnish Hound a multitude of drills, skills, and exercises with four jumps. Four jumps will allow you to develop on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can practice on a “box” with your jumps and practice collection, handling, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Finnish Hound jumping right and left. You could be out of the box and send your Finnish Hound or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps could be staged in a horizontal row, so that you can practice threadles and serpentines.
Teach the Finnish Hound Eight Jumps
Take the next logical step and practice 8 jumps. Now you can setup 2 boxes with 1 starter jump. Now you’ve increased the number of exercises that you can try with your Finnish Hound. Your jump grids can be of typical size and quantity of jumps. You could also position the jumps in a circle with the jump bars perpendicular to the circle or on the perimeter of the circle. This pattern also allows you to work on a variety of skills.
Teaching the Finnish Hound Double and Triple Jumps
The next step is a double jump and a triple jump. You can position 2 or 3 single jumps together to make your expanded jump, however having double and triple jumps in your course work is really beneficial to practice. We’ve seen many Finnish Hounds run a clean course and the last obstacle is a triple and the Finnish Hound is not prepared for it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Finnish Hounds.Was this post helpful? If so, please take a minute to Tweet and Share below on Facebook. I would also love to know your thoughts so leave me a comment 🙂
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