This blog is concerning how to teach the Otterhound to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “What number of jumps should I begin with?” You can never have too many solo jumps to practice agility. A good starting place is 4 jumps. This is the absolute least number of jumps recommended.
How to Teach Your Otterhound jumping: Start with 4
You can teach your Otterhound a number of exercises, skills, and drills with 4 jumps. Four jumps will let you develop on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can position a “box” with your jumps and practice collection, handling, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Otterhound jumping right and left. You can be outside the box and send your Otterhound or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps could be setup in a horizontal row, so you could practice serpentines and threadles.
Teach the Otterhound Eight Jumps
Go to the next step and develop 8 jumps. Now you can position 2 boxes with 1 starter jump. You’ve now increased the number of drills that you can practice with your Otterhound. Your jump grids can be of typical size and quantity of jumps. You can also setup your jumps in a circle with the jump bars perpendicular to the circle or on the circumference of the circle. This pattern also allows you to work on a variety of skills.
Teach the Otterhound Double and Triple Jumps
The next consideration is a double jump and a triple jump. You can position two or 3 single jumps together to make your expanded jump, however having double and triple jumps in your course work is extremely valuable to work on. We’ve seen several Otterhounds run a perfect course and the final obstacle is a triple and the Otterhound is not prepared to do it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Otterhounds.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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