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Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

The Old Trainer: Train your dog to jump

Dear Old Trainer: I saw a woman at the dog park who had taught her Australian Shepherds to jump over her arm on command. I would like to teach Fritz, my 2-year old Doberman, to jump like that. Do Dobermans make good jumpers, and how do I teach him?

-- Interested, Laguna Beach

A: Dobermans are excellent jumpers and athletes, Interested, and the training part is a snap.

All it takes to train Fritz, or any other athletic dog, to jump on command is a hula hoop and a narrow passage that you can construct by moving two chairs to within about 18 inches. Walk through the passage, then hold the bottom of the hula hoop on the ground in the opening and call Fritz through it.

As you call him, say the word you want to use as the jump command. Fritz doesn't care what the word is, so just make sure it is something you can remember. I use "hoop" with my dogs and give it a drill sergeant, guttural sound. When Fritz walks through, pet him and praise him. Repeat this several times. Then hold the hoop a couple of inches off the ground and repeat the command.

Fritz will still just walk through, but praise him each time he does it. All you need to convey to him at this time is that when you give the command, he walks through the hoop and gets petted and loved.

Stop the training session after five minutes and take a break. Dogs get bored quickly. Half an hour later, hold another session. Raise the hoop a couple of inches this time and give the command. Continue to raise it a little each time you come back to the exercise. At some point it will dawn on him to jump through instead of walk through. When he does that, give him maximum petting and praise, then immediately repeat it a few times.

Once he's jumping, move the exercise outside and do away with using the chairs. Dogs love the training once they begin jumping, and you can extend your training sessions to 10 minutes. Raise the hoop a few inches a day. Fritz will look forward to the practice and will quickly become an expert, but there is one step remaining.

Put one arm part way along the top of the hoop and one part way along the bottom. Make sure to keep your head out of the way. Give him the command. He may be a little confused, so take your time and let him understand it is the same trick. If you need to, pull your arms back until they cover only one-quarter of the hoop. Once he jumps through it, extend your arms a little each time until they are fully extended on the hoop as Fritz jumps through. He now knows the trick and all you have to do is refine it.

It's time to do away with the hoop and merely hold your arms out and let him jump through them. Once he does, you can use any variation as long as you give him the mental picture and the command. He will jump over one arm, over your arm extended behind your back, through both arms, take a ball out of your hand held head high -- any variation that occurs to you. As in all training, the praise and love are the most important parts.

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