This post is about teaching a Chihuahua jumping for agility. Often we are asked, “What number of jumps should I start with?” You can’t ever have too many solo jumps to teach agility. One good starting point is 4 jumps. This is the absolute fewest count of jumps that we suggest.
Teaching the Chihuahua to jump: Start with 4
You can teach the Chihuahua a variety of skills, drills, and exercises with four jumps. Four jumps will allow you to develop on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can practice on a “box” with your jumps and work on collection, handling, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Chihuahua jumping right and left. You can be out of the box and send your Chihuahua or you can handle from the inside of the box. Your jumps can be positioned in a lateral line, so that you could practice threadles and serpentines.
Teach Your Chihuahua 8 Jumps
Take the next step and practice 8 jumps. Now you can position 2 boxes with 1 starter jump. Now you’ve multiplied the number of exercises that you can practice with your Chihuahua. Your jump grids can be of recommended size and quantity 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 allows you to train a variety of skills.
Teach the Chihuahua Double and Triple Jumps
Your next consideration is a double jump and a triple jump. You can position two or three solo jumps together to make your expanded jump, but having double and triple jumps in your course work is really helpful to practice. We’ve seen several Chihuahuas run a perfect course and the last obstacle is a triple and the Chihuahua is not prepared to do it, and bang, down goes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Chihuahuas.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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