This post is about teaching a Gordon Setter to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “How many jumps is best to start with?” You can never have too many single jumps to practice agility. One suitable starting place is 4 jumps. This is the absolute minimum number of jumps that we suggest.
Teaching the Gordon Setter jumping: Begin with 4
You can teach the Gordon Setter many drills, skills, and exercises with four jumps. Four jumps will allow you to develop on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can setup a “box” with your jumps and work on collection, handling, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Gordon Setter jumping left and right. You can be outside the box and send your Gordon Setter or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps can be setup in a lateral row, so you could practice threadles and serpentines.
Teach the Gordon Setter 8 Jumps
Go to the next logical step and get eight jumps. Now you can setup two boxes with one starter jump. Now you’ve multiplied the number of exercises that you can practice with your Gordon Setter. Your jump grids can be of suggested size and quantity of jumps. You could even position your jumps in a circle with the jump bars perpendicular to the circle or on the circumference of the circle. This setup also allows you to work on a variety of drills.
Teaching Your Gordon Setter Double and Triple Jumps
The next consideration is a double jump and a triple jump. You can chain 2 or 3 solo jumps together to make your expanded jump, however having double and triple jumps in your course work is extremely beneficial to practice. We’ve seen several Gordon Setters run a perfect course and the last obstacle is a triple and the Gordon Setter is not equipped to do it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Gordon Setters.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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