This article is about how to teach a Shetland Sheepdog jumping for agility. Often we are asked, “How many jumps should I start with?” You can’t ever have enough single jumps to teach agility. A good starting place is 4 jumps. This is the fewest count of jumps recommended.
Teaching the Shetland Sheepdog to jump: Begin with 4
You can teach your Shetland Sheepdog many drills, skills, and exercises with four jumps. 4 jumps will allow you to work on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can setup a “box” with your jumps and practice 270 degree jumps, collection, and handling. You can teach your Shetland Sheepdog jumping left and right. You could be out of the box and send your Shetland Sheepdog or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps could be setup in a lateral line, so that you could practice serpentines and threadles.
Teach the Shetland Sheepdog 8 Jumps
Take the next step and develop eight jumps. Now you can position two boxes with one introductory jump. You’ve now multiplied the number of routines that you can try with your Shetland Sheepdog. Your jump grids can be of suggested size and number of jumps. You can also position the jumps in a circle with the jump bars perpendicular to the circle or on the perimeter of the circle. This setup also enables you to develop a variety of skills.
Teach the Shetland Sheepdog Double and Triple Jumps
Your next level is a double jump and a triple jump. You could position two or three solo jumps together to make your expanded jump, but having double and triple jumps in your course work is really valuable to work on. We’ve seen several Shetland Sheepdogs run a clean course and the last obstacle is a triple and the Shetland Sheepdog is not equipped to do it, and bang, down goes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Shetland Sheepdogs.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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