It is fun and rewarding to teach your dog to jump, and it is a required skill for many forms of competition.

To teach your dog to jump, start with low heights. You can utilize a setup as simple as a broomstick and two stacks of books. Start by heeling your dog around the area, on lead. By heeling, I mean, have your dog walking on your left side with its ear in line with the seam of your pants. Once your dog is successfully heeling, head toward the jump.

When you arrive at the jump, give the jump command. Most people choose “over.” As you give the command, pass by the jump, almost touching the edge of it, so that your dog can’t squeeze between the jump and you. Often, the dog will jump over the obstacle for lack of a better option. If this happens, praise the heck out of the dog when it gets to the other side. Other dogs will simply stop in their tracks. If this is the case, go back and vocally encourage the dog to jump. If it does as you ask, pour on the praise. In some cases, you will need to gently, and manually, hoist the dog over the jump. Even if you have to do this, praise the dog as if its done something fabulous.

As with any training, repetition and practice are key. So, continue trying the low jump until the dog is successful without your help and without the leash. Then, gradually raise the height of the jump until you get to the height of the dog’s shoulders while standing. Don’t ask your dog to jump any higher than the height of its withers.

You should work with your dog for fifteen minutes per day. Any more might overwhelm the dog. In the case of the jump, frequency of jumping is highly dependent on the breed and the individual dog. Only ask overweight dogs to jump a few times in a session. Some dogs are really heavy with short legs. Only ask these types of dogs to jump a few times each day. Jumping and landing puts a strain in the joints for these dogs. If your dog is obese, I recommend helping your dog to shed some of those extra pounds before attempting the jump at all. As always, safety first!

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