This blog is about how to teach a Pointer to jump for agility. We are often asked, “How many jumps should I begin with?” You can never have enough solo jumps to learn agility. A good starting place is 4 jumps. This is the least quantity of jumps that we suggest.
Teaching a Pointer jumping: Begin with Four
You can teach a Pointer many drills, skills, and exercises with four jumps. Four jumps will let you work on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can setup a “box” with your jumps and practice handling, collection, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Pointer jumping right and left. You can be outside the box and send your Pointer or you can handle from the inside of the box. Your jumps could be setup in a lateral line, so you could practice threadles and serpentines.
Teach Your Pointer 8 Jumps
Take the next logical step and practice 8 jumps. Now you can setup 2 boxes with one starter jump. Now you’ve increased your exercises that you can try with your Pointer. Your jump grids can be of suggested size and number of jumps. You can also position your jumps in a circle with the jump bars normal to the circle or on the circumference of the circle. This setup also allows you to work on a variety of skills.
Teaching Your Pointer Double and Triple Jumps
Your next consideration is a double jump and a triple jump. You could chain two or 3 solo jumps together to make your expanded jump, but having double and triple jumps in your course work is extremely beneficial to practice. We’ve seen many Pointers run a perfect course and the final obstacle is a triple and the Pointer is not prepared to do it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Pointers.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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