Reach the heights: the steps you need to take to teach your dog to jump
Fran Ardley goes through the steps you need to take to teach your dog to jump
In my part of the world, having a gundog that can get over an obstacle or go through rough cover to an open area to locate its retrieve is a necessity. Where I work my dogs there are numerous stone walls, ditches and gullies. These are often covered in rushes and white grass, and game, especially rabbits, will be flushed from the rough areas and head for open ground. A gundog’s natural desire is to hunt cover that it hopes will hold game and it can be the devil’s own job to push the dog through and out on to open ground. It can be equally challenging to get a dog over a 6ft stone wall for a retrieve it hasn’t seen. It all takes training.
I am lucky that we don’t have a lot of sheep netting or barbed wire-topped fences, which
I will not ask my dogs to jump. I have seen too many dogs injured doing this. A labrador should be able to clear a fence without touching the top strand but I have found that many dogs prefer to climb and this is where they can get caught. Another often overlooked but extremely useful skill that can be taught is the ability to send a dog out and through a hedge line for a retrieve. The dog will naturally want to hunt the bottom of the hedge, especially if game has run along it or there are a lot of rabbit holes underneath, so a good level of training has to be put in place beforehand to reach this type of retrieve quickly and efficiently.
Why and when
It is all about efficiency, being able to get your dog out to an area to look for and pick a retrieve swiftly without fuss. It not only looks good but it also means that should you see a pricked bird come down the other side of an obstacle or a rabbit shot up on a bank the other side of a block of rushes you can get your dog on the line quickly. An obstacle doesn’t only have to mean something relatively solid such as a wall, hedge or fence line; it can also refer to ditches or gullies. Even a grass ride in a woodland can create an almost invisible “barrier” for a dog that is used to hunting for retrieves in cover. Quite often they will refuse to go across such a barren area and for this reason they need to have been taught some basic commands, such as “go back”, and to trust the handler that there is in fact something to find.
Remember, you will quite often be working the dog out of sight and therefore you will be giving it every opportunity to disappear and go “self-employed”. Thus, under no circumstances start this level of training until you are confident that the dog has the following skills:
• A good and reliable retrieve
• A solid recall and stop whistle
• Physically able to cope with the rigours of jumping
• Understands the “go back” command
• Has had plenty of experience with basic memory and blind retrieves
How
The training methods for teaching a dog to get over a fence or wall are slightly different to teaching a dog to get through cover to make a retrieve on open ground, but there are some common aspects. The first is that you need to build up the dog’s confidence
which means starting with simple exercises that don’t stretch the dog too far too quickly. The second is to make sure the dog always succeeds. In the early stages of training any new exercise it is really important that the dog always manages to complete a task successfully. Third, it is always better to build up the complexity of an exercise gradually and if the dog does struggle always be prepared to take a step back.
Cover, hedge lines, ditches
The way I start teaching a dog to go through a hedge or a rough area of cover into open ground is by utilising a basic memory retrieve. So, walk the dog to heel, go through the cover or a gap in a hedge, throw out the dummy and walk back through the obstacle.
Do not go too far from the edge of the hedge or cover initially, line the dog up and send it immediately. I like to use a “go back” command, which basically means I want the dog to run out in a straight line. By getting the dog out quickly you are keeping it keen and this will help to drive it through the cover.
Gradually increase the distance you are sending the dog from the cover but at this stage keep the retrieve fairly close to the far side of the cover or hedge. If possible, use the same location as dogs learn by repetition and success and at the same time you are helping to build its confidence. Once you are happy the dog has grasped the concept of the exercise, you can then increase the distance that you throw out the dummy from. Remember, begin sending the dog
from close to the cover and gradually build up the distance.
The next step is to put out a blind retrieve (one the dog hasn’t seen) and repeat the exercise. Because of the previous repetition the dog should manage this part of the training without too much effort. If it struggles, you may need to go back and recap. Over time, you build up the dog’s experience by repeating the training exercise in different places with varying types of cover. The key to success is not to let the dog hunt the cover or the bottom of the hedge; if it does start to cast about, call it back and restart the task. It is important that you are consistent with this aspect of the exercise.
Walls and fences
Jumping puts a lot of strain on a dog’s joints and limbs and therefore your dog should be physically able to deal with the strain of this exercise. First, you should ask yourself whether you need to teach your dog to jump; I know people who own smaller gundogs such as cockers who do not teach them this skill to prevent the dogs getting caught on barbed wire. However, for those who need their dog to jump, I like to start using a strip of the type of orange netting that you see on building sites; it is light, convenient to
use and a jump can be set up in most places. Another advantage of netting is that it teaches the dog to jump clear of the fence. Dogs often want to push themselves off a top rail and it is best they don’t develop this habit, especially for the aforementioned barbed-wire reasons.
To start, I will sit the dog on one side of the netting and call it over to the other side using the command “get over”. Because I use netting I can adjust the height to suit the size of the dog. If the dog is reluctant, try throwing a dummy for it, which can encourage it to jump. Once the dog has picked the retrieve, step back over the fence and use the recall whistle to bring the dog back to you. Most dogs find it more difficult to jump with something in their mouths, so it is a good idea to use something soft and light to make it easier for the dog to carry. It is important to gradually build up the height and don’t intimidate the dog with the size of the obstacle because if it trips or falls it can knock its confidence and put it off jumping.
Once the dog is jumping confidently you can move on to solid-topped fences or, if you have any in your part of the world, low stone walls. If you are planning to use obstacles outside of your training ground, always check the landing side to make sure it is safe. I have to watch out for partly collapsed walls on the blind side as it is all too easy for a dog to get its landing wrong and break a leg. It is also best to train on level ground as it is always more difficult for a dog to jump from higher to lower ground and vice-versa. This is the kind of situation where injuries occur.
Also, consider taking the retrieve from the dog before it tries jumping back over to you, especially if it is one of the smaller breeds. It is also worth looking to see if you can send your dog under a fence or through a stone wall rather than expecting it to jump.
“Try not to intimidate the dog with the size of the obstacle”