An agility training question.

[LavenderRott]

Recently, Carina, my mother and I attended an agility event for little dogs. One of the dogs we had with us had never been around agility equipment, so we ambled around the equipment with him, just to see what he would do. Well, without any prompting, he jumped over the jump that was set up. My mom, who was holding the leash was immediatly descended on by a trainer, asked if the dog had ever jumped before, and admonished her (rather rudely) for having the dog jump without lowering the jump to floor level.

While I understand putting the bar on the floor for a reluctant dog, is it really necessary to do that for a dog that is not only not reluctant but eager to go over that jump?

[Brooke&Ryan]

I'm sure that others will weigh in here but when we started Julius in agility we did not put the jump bar on the floor. It was pretty low because of his joints & he's still growing but it was at a small dog height.


Brooke