Many dogs are natural jumpers and others need to be taught. Some handlers never think about their dogs’ ability to jump. The dog has simply always jumped cleanly, and rarely ever has a bar down. The owner does not necessarily do everything right, the dog just seems to understand the job and is physically capable of accomplishing it. For other competitors, the dropped bar causes the majority of their failures to qualify or win. They think about jumping all the time.

How to correct it and how to prevent it becomes the focus of most training sessions. Should you stop your dog every time he knocks a bar? Yell at him, make him sit or down, put him away?  Should it be dog responsibility, or handler responsibility, to insure the bars stay up. I personally think it is first the handler’s responsibility to handle the dog well enough that bars need not come down, but I also believe that it is possible to teach your dog to respect jumps and keep up almost all the bars as long as the dog is built well enough for the job, is physically sound and does not have a vision problem like ETS.

But it is MY job to teach my job to jump, and it is MY job to be a detective in figuring out why my dog is knocking bars. Sometimes I can prevent a bar from dropping by being a smoother more consistent handler that does not interfere with my dog while he is jumping. Other instances require training over a long period of time to show the dog what to do in a specific exercise.

The first step in solving your problem is to understand WHY your dog drops bars.

Here are my TOP TEN reasons why bars come down.

1. Handler calling dog while dog is in the “jump zone” (between takeoff and landing)
2. Handler putting some kind of perpendicular pressure on dog while it is in the jump zone
3. Structural build of dog, or an injury, makes it painful or difficult for dog to jump cleanly every time.
4. Dog has not been taught the cues for front and rear cross over the top of a jump
5. Dog takes off too early, clips bar with feet
6. Dog takes off too late, clips bar with feet or even chest
7. Dog does not know how to “bend” around the jump and takes bar down with rear leg after jumping straight and turning late.
8. Dog jumps very fast and flat, crashing bars as he goes.
9. Dog has not been taught to “go on” and is constantly turning to look back at handler and taking bar down with inside front or rear leg.
10. Handler cues change of side (front cross or rear cross) either too early or too late

What to do about it

1. Handler calling dog while dog is in the “jump zone”
   Competition Strategy: Don’t do it!! Some dogs simply cannot take the pressure of you calling them while in their jump zone. Save calls till the dog’s feet are on the ground. Try giving your directional commands just BEFORE the dog jumps, instead of during.
   Training: Try running courses silently and see how few verbal commands you really need to get your dog through the course. Use your body, not your mouth to run courses! Teach your dog to tolerate your occasional “bad handling” by setting up a training situation where you say something (quietly in the beginning) to the dog every time he is over the jump. Reward the dog each time he keeps the bar up while you are commanding him.
2. Handler puts perpendicular pressure on dog while it is in the jump zone
   Competition strategy: Don’t do it!! If your dog drops a bar when you come in on him at a jump, avoid pushing on his line while he is jumping.
   Training: Set up lines of jumps where you must step in on the dog laterally and push. Reward the dog for keeping up the bar. Teach your dog a great “out” command.
3.  Structural build of dog or injury makes it painful or difficult for dog to jump cleanly every time
   If your young dog can’t keep the bars up, or your trained dog is starting to drop them, get to an orthopedic vet for a full checkup and possibly radiographs. A vet who is trained in acupuncture, chiropractic, or physical therapy is your best bet for diagnosis of jumping irregularities caused by physical impairment. Sometimes the build of your dog dictates his jumping style. Heavy front end dogs often take off late and even knock bars with their chest. Heavy tailed dogs occasionally take a bar down with their tails! Some dogs have a weak or lazy rear end. It is possible that not all these issues can be fixed with either training or treatment.
4. Dog has not been taught the cues for front and rear cross over the top of a jump
   Teach your dog all the physical (positions and motions) and verbal cues (left, right, go on) which you want to use for crosses and try to give them BEFORE the dog jumps, not just during or after.
5. Dog takes off too early, bar drops
   You need to evaluate whether your dog is just jumping slightly early or has a condition called ETS. (see articles on this site) If the dog does not have ETS try some of these aids. Place a ground bar just at the point where your dog normally ascends the jump. You want to get the dog to take off BETWEEN the ground bar and the jump. For a large dog try placing the bar 6 feet away to start. Use just one jump to begin with until you know that you have the correct placement of the bar. Move the bar far enough away from the jump that the dog comes inside to take off.
   Continuing Training: The dog should jump equally when you use the ground bar, meaning the dog takes off and lands approximately the same distance from the jump.. You may then begin to use multiple jumps in a straight line, and then begin using the bars on normal jumping patterns and curves. Over time you should begin to minimize the size of the ground bar in order to fade it away entirely
6. Dog takes off too late, clips bar with feet or even chest
   Place a ground bar just in front of the jump. Depending on the height of the jump, place the ground bar approximately 50 to 60% of the height of the bar, on the ground, in front of the jump. (24 inch bar, approximately 12 to15 inches in front of the jump) Increase the distance away from the jump up to 100% (24 inch jump, 24 inches away from the jump) if necessary, to get the dog to take off earlier and jump more equal. Follow guidelines above for fading the ground bar aids.
7. Dog does not know how to bend over the bar and takes bar down with rear leg after jumping straight and turning late
   Training: Circles!!! One, two, three and four jump circles over and over again until the dog begins to catch on to bending while jumping. Eventually add some distractions (Keep on bending!) and add enticing obstacles outside of the sphere of the circle. Teach the dog to pay attention to your body language and shoulders as he bends around the circle with you.
8. Dog jumps flat and long, taking bars with either front or back legs
   Start with bounce jump drills. Put the jumps close enough together (start with 4 feet for small dog, 7 feet for large dog) that the dog cannot take an extra stride between jumps. The dog should land and immediately take off again for the next jump. Keep the distance between jumps short, and keep your dog jumping more rounded. Eventually add some enticing obstacles like tunnels before and after the jumps and show your dog how to bounce and THEN go on.
9. Dog has not been taught to “go on” and is constantly turning to look back at handler and taking bar down with inside front or rear leg.
   Training: Teach your dog to “go-on” with a target or toy or table. Throw the toy or place the target on the other side of one jump. Let the dog see you place the object. Use the command “go-on” when you release your dog to the target. Increase the amount of jumps in a straight line until your dog will “send” on a verbal command all the way down the line of jumps.
10. Handler cues change of side (front cross or rear cross) either too early or too late.
    The dog should be cued for the change of sides once he has shown full commitment to forward motion towards the jump, but slightly before take-off. Keeping yourself (shoulders, feet, head) straight to the jump, and starting a severe turn while the dog is in the jump zone, or just before the dog lands, is not smooth and polite handling. Keep your shoulders slightly bent towards the path you wish the dog to take, like steering a car, just prior to take-off. If you turn into the dog to cue front cross too early, you may pull the dog off the jump, or make him have the bar down. If you are too late to cue the dog, he will be taken by surprise and possibly drop the bar. Try to tell your dog BEFORE he jumps which direction he is traveling. Show him the path with your body language in a smooth, not jerky or panic stricken way, and he will be able to bend and move with you through the course.

Video and instruction

You may need to watch your dog many times on video or have your instructor watch your dog carefully to analyze why the rails are coming down. Set up a private lesson with your instructor to work only on jumping, or get together with friends for a training session, and take turns video taping each of the dogs doing both compulsories and courses for later analysis. There is no shortcut to teaching good jumping skills to yourself and your dog. And it is not just the dog that needs to learn. If you handled correctly, and quietly your dog would drop less bars. If you trained properly, and you and your dog could execute all the “figures” accurately and quickly, you would have less bars down as well. I call all the jump drills I do with my dogs “compulsories” just like figure skaters do their compulsory circles, and figure 8’s and spins. Boxes, double boxes, straight lines, circles, serpentines and figure 8’s comprise the compulsory drills you should practice throughout your dogs career to keep you sharp on your techniques, and keep your handling communication to your dog clear and consistent. To read more about WHAT to practice, read Nancy’s book on jumping drills.

Nancy Gyes, Clean Run Magazine, 2003

Reprinted with permission of Clean Run Productions. For the complete article, with diagrams of exercises, see the March 2003 issue of Clean Run magazine.