This blog is about teaching a Cretan Hound to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “What number of jumps should I begin with?” You can never have too many single jumps to practice agility. A suitable starting place is 4 jumps. This is the fewest number of jumps that we suggest.
How to Teach a Cretan Hound to jump: Start with 4
You can teach your Cretan Hound many exercises, skills, and drills with 4 jumps. Four jumps will allow you to work on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can position a “box” with your jumps and work on 270 degree jumps, collection, and handling. You can teach your Cretan Hound jumping right and left. You could be outside the box and send your Cretan Hound or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps could be staged in a horizontal line, so you could practice serpentines and threadles.
Teach a Cretan Hound 8 Jumps
Take the next logical step and get eight jumps. Now you can position 2 boxes with 1 starter jump. You’ve now increased your exercises that you can practice with your Cretan Hound. Your jump grids can be of typical size and quantity of jumps. You can even setup the jumps in a circle with the jump bars perpendicular to the circle or on the perimeter of the circle. This pattern also enables you to train a variety of drills.
Teach Your Cretan Hound Double and Triple Jumps
The next step is a double jump and a triple jump. You can chain 2 or three solo jumps together to make your expanded jump, however having double and triple jumps in your course work is extremely helpful to work on. We’ve seen several Cretan Hounds run a flawless course and the final obstacle is a triple and the Cretan Hound is not ready for it, and bang, down goes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Cretan Hounds.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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