This article is concerning how to teach your Dutch Smoushond to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “How many jumps should I start with?” You can never have enough solo jumps to learn agility. A good starting place is 4 jumps. This is the least number of jumps that we recommend.
Teaching a Dutch Smoushond to jump: Start with Four
You can teach the Dutch Smoushond many skills, drills, and exercises with four jumps. Four jumps will let you develop on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can setup a “box” with your jumps and practice collection, handling, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Dutch Smoushond jumping left and right. You could be outside the box and send your Dutch Smoushond or you can handle from within the box. Your jumps could be positioned in a horizontal row, so you can practice serpentines and threadles.
Teach the Dutch Smoushond Eight Jumps
Take the next step and develop 8 jumps. Now you can position two boxes with one starter jump. You’ve now increased the number of routines that you can work on with your Dutch Smoushond. Your jump grids can be of typical size and quantity of jumps. You could even position the jumps in a circle with the jump bars perpendicular to the circle or on the perimeter of the circle. This pattern also allows you to work on a variety of skills.
Teaching a Dutch Smoushond Double and Triple Jumps
Your next step 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 helpful to work on. We’ve seen several Dutch Smoushonds run a clean course and the last obstacle is a triple and the Dutch Smoushond is not equipped for it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Dutch Smoushonds.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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