Pembroke Corgi suitable to jump obstacles?

[lovelymonster]

My pemroke corgi is 2.5 years old, 30lbs, 11-7/8" inch high, learned to do agility for 1 year.

So far he enjoys everyweek agility training, he likes the contract obstacles - Air frame, walk-up and teetar, also the tunnel.

We follow USDAA rules. therefore he is jumping 12" high.

But every run he jumped many bars, is it because i run too fast that he wants to chase after me ? my trainer said is not. Is it because i didnt point the bar properly or because of corgi's long body their legs touched the bars?

Or i should not force him to jump over because made him uncomfortable ? Corgis should be not encourge the jump 12" high????


LovelyMonster

[chanda]

maybe your pet just need to adjust to the 12" high...

[corgipower]

There are a lot of corgis jumping 12 inches and doing well at it. There also are a lot of corgis who are oversized or who are out of shape or who simply lack the athleticism to pick their toes up.

[PWCorgi]

You could always switch to another venue if you don't think your dog is doing well with the 12" jumps.

My Izzy is a Pemmy and she is very short, but she flies over the 8' flyball jumps with room to spare...

[BostonBanker]

Jumping is a skill just like any other obstacle; he may need to learn to jump correctly. Have you ever taught him that? I took a class based on Susan Salo's system; I think Linda Mecklenberg also has a system for teaching jumping.

If you want to stay in USDAA (and you may; it's my favorite), you can put your corgi in the performance division. That's what I do with Meg who, at 17.5" would have to jump 22". She's more than capable of it, but I want to put as little stress on her elbows as possible, so I do performance, which allows you to drop the dog down a height (you would do 8"). It also gives you a less-steep a-frame and a couple extra seconds on the SCT.

[MafiaPrincess]

It may be an issue of conditioning. Or you may need to take BB's advice and drop a jump height. Did you start training at a lower height and work up to 12" if not, it would have been a good idea.. Is your dog struggling to jump at 12"? Have you worked at building stamina?

[adojrts]

Originally Posted by lovelymonster

My pemroke corgi is 2.5 years old, 30lbs, 11-7/8" inch high, learned to do agility for 1 year.

So far he enjoys everyweek agility training, he likes the contract obstacles - Air frame, walk-up and teetar, also the tunnel.

We follow USDAA rules. therefore he is jumping 12" high.

But every run he jumped many bars, is it because i run too fast that he wants to chase after me ? my trainer said is not. Is it because i didnt point the bar properly or because of corgi's long body their legs touched the bars?

Or i should not force him to jump over because made him uncomfortable ? Corgis should be not encourge the jump 12" high????

LovelyMonster

First thing I would do is get his back x-rayed and then get to a good canine chiropractor to rule a physical problem due to his long back.
And look at his over all condition, you may need to do core abdominal muscle exercises to strengthen him along with other exercises to keep a longbacked dog in TOP condition. Has he been taught hindend awareness? If not that has to be done.
Then you need to figure out if it is your handling and/or his jumping style, both can be improved upon.
It is a very common handling error is race our dogs, when what we need to do is learn how to handle them on course. Have you been taught body language? How to support lines (dogs path) and how turning too soon or too late can effect our dogs performance? Our timing of turning or telling our dogs when to jump can also have a huge impact, speaking while your dog is in the air over a jump often causes bars to drop with many dogs.
I would also pay attention to the jumps themselves, is it a wide selection of jumps in different areas or is it only jumps with certain coloured bars or stripes? Winged jumps? On corners? When he has to jump from an angle?
Look at what is beyond the jump, get down and look from your dogs level, anything there that could have distracted him or confused him???
It all has to be considered and investigated, it could be a simple solution. But I wouldn't jump (pardon the pun) at just lowering the height, that may not solve your problem. Btw, do you train at the height that you compete at sometimes??? Another thing to consider...........


Lynn

[lizzybeth727]

Another thing I read is that sometimes it helps to vary the height of the jumps on the same course. So let's say you want her to jump three jumps, set one at 4", one at 8", and one at 12". Mix them up, too, so he doesn't learn that the shortest jump is first, or whatever. It's probably not a good idea to set any above the 12". But this way, your dog has to concentrate more on each jump and look closer to see if he's going to knock it.

[adojrts]

Originally Posted by lizzybeth727

Another thing I read is that sometimes it helps to vary the height of the jumps on the same course. So let's say you want her to jump three jumps, set one at 4", one at 8", and one at 12". Mix them up, too, so he doesn't learn that the shortest jump is first, or whatever. It's probably not a good idea to set any above the 12". But this way, your dog has to concentrate more on each jump and look closer to see if he's going to knock it.

That is a very common training practice, also teaching a dog to jump higher than they would be expected to compete is also wise. Considering that ringcrew can make a mistake and have the bars at the wrong height. Yes, if that happens you are given the choice of a rerun, but if the first run was clean and your dog sailed over the larger jump, taking a rerun would be for nothing. Plus it avoids having your dog run an extra course.
Off setting the bars is also a good idea especially for jumps on turns, teaches dogs to jump closer to the standard and the flow of the run, instead of arching, 1/1000ths of seconds can be valuable to take off each run.

[lovelymonster]

Thanks for all the reply.

We have one special one hour class just to improve the jump. Trainer put one 8" jump and one 12" jump behind. He needs to extend his body to jump higher. He didnt do well in this special class, 60% clearing the jumps.

But the next time when we are having our normal class, he didnt drop bars for several runs. wow, 1st time see him got clean run !!! He only drop bars when the class almost ended, think he is too tired.

I believe the dogs need to made some effort to clear the jumps and also need some estimation, also handler needs know when to ask them jump, is eg. not telling him to jump over another jump when they are trying the jump the current jump, and where is the handler position....etc.

All need practice to get the perfect team!

Lovelymonster