This blog is concerning how to teach the English Shepherd to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “How many jumps is best to begin with?” You can’t ever have enough single jumps to teach agility. A suitable starting point is four jumps. This is the minimum number of jumps suggested.
How to Teach the English Shepherd jumping: Begin with 4
You can teach a English Shepherd a plethora of exercises, drills, and skills with four jumps. 4 jumps will let you 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 English Shepherd jumping right and left. You could be out of the box and send your English Shepherd or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps can be setup in a horizontal row, so that you can practice threadles and serpentines.
Teach the English Shepherd 8 Jumps
Go to the next logical step and practice eight jumps. Now you can position two boxes with one starter jump. Now you’ve increased your routines that you can try with your English Shepherd. Your jump grids can be of typical size and number of jumps. You could also position your 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 drills.
Teach a English Shepherd Double and Triple Jumps
Your next step is a double jump and a triple jump. You can position two or 3 solo 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 many English Shepherds run a flawless course and the last obstacle is a triple and the English Shepherd is not equipped for it, and bang, down goes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about English Shepherds.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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