If you want your dog to learn active tricks like jumping through hoops and diving in the water, jumping is a fundamental skill that they need to be trained on.
Training your dog in any trick requires the right amount of time and dedication, and most of all – knowledge. We can help you with at least the knowledge part as we discuss the proper steps in training your dog how to jump, like in this video.
Let’s jump right in (pun intended)!
Teaching Dogs How to Jump
Jumping is a relatively easy skill to learn for dogs. After all, it’s a natural action that they know how to do by themselves. All that’s left to do is to teach them how to jump on command and in the way that you want.
To help you with that, here’s the step-by-step process of training your dogs to jump on command.
- Learn fundamental commands. Start by teaching your dog the “sit” and “stay” commands. Simple commands like this serve as a foundation for jump training, once your dog learns they can do things for treats, they’ll be easier to teach.
- Use a low hurdle. Once your dog is comfortable with simple commands, place a low hurdle or obstacle in front of them and give the command “jump.” Use a treat or a toy as a lure to encourage them to jump over the hurdle and reward them every time they do it right.
- Increase hurdle height. As your dog becomes more comfortable with jumping over the hurdle, gradually increase the height of the hurdle.
- Alter cues. When your dog follows commands to jump over the hurdle consistently, start to add verbal and hand cues for the jump command.
- Increase difficulty. Practice jumping over multiple hurdles in a row to build up your dog’s endurance and confidence.
- Add jumping variations. As your dog becomes more proficient at jumping, you can start to add in more complex obstacles, such as jumping through hoops or over obstacles that move. The same principles of rewards should apply.
- Be patient. Remember to be patient and take the training process slowly. Jumping can be a difficult skill for a dog to learn. It may take several weeks or even months for them to become proficient at it.
Remember that you should always train your dog through positive reinforcement – don’t punish them if they do something wrong. That is inefficient and a good way to traumatize your dog if not done properly.
Training Your Dogs to Jump
Jumping is a neat trick that you can train to improve your bond with your pet or even to show off to your friends and fellow fur parents. It’s natural and easy-to-learn action, but you still need to have the proper sequence to be able to pull it off properly.
In this article, we discussed the best steps that you can take to train your dogs to jump. It can be challenging, but you can do it with enough knowledge, time, and dedication.
Do you know to know more about dog training and welfare? Read more stuff in our PetFitness blog!
