Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:28 am Post subject: Bert & jumping - I wish he would!
I would dearly love for my pet/show bred choccie Bert to jump. I have failed spectacularly at getting him to do so. It is a great shame and tbh a bit of a hindrance around the Shoot.
Recently he's remembered what his role in life is and that's pushing pheasants home in his lovely slow and methodical way. He is actually a really good dog for this job. Soon the pheasants will start wandering further a field and as per last year will involve us having to negotiate many obstacles on our way, one of which is stock fencing.
The stock fencing round the Shoot is just wonderful, no nasty barb wire etc and fairly low. I'd say about 2'6". The routes I take means crossing these at regular intervals. My other two boys just hop over it like bunnies but Bert, oh Bert, I have to literally pick him up and gently toss him over, which is no mean feat for a dog of his size. Neither of us enjoy this, at all.
None of this is the end of the World but it would be oh so useful if he could jump. Am I being unreasonable for a dog his size (42 kilo, and he's not fat, just BIG!), with little athleticism, to actually be able to jump this high in the first place? What do you think?
If I can expect him to do it, any tips on how? I've tried at home to recreate a jumping alley. It just doesn't work. He falls asleep at one end. I've even tried placing dog biscuits the other side of 1 foot jumps and he just sits the other side and drools!
I'm trying very hard to improve his overall fitness, which to be honest isn't bad at the moment. If he had his way he'd just 'potter'. However he will jog with me and he is covering a fair amount of ground, at his own pace mind, twice a day round the Shoot and enjoys it a LOT.
Lost cause or is there some hope? It would be so GOOD to get him jumping those fences, if only for my back and not least it would be the icing on the cake for me! BUT that said I don't want to push him into doing something which he might not be capable of in the first place....?
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:36 am Post subject: Re: Bert & jumping - I wish he would!
barney2007 wrote:
Am I being unreasonable for a dog his size (42 kilo, and he's not fat, just BIG!), with little athleticism, to actually be able to jump this high in the first place? What do you think?
Sorry H, can't necessarily help you with the 'how to' side of things, but I can answer this one... both my boys are 40+ kilos, big, yet not fat, although Jake is a lot fitter than Danny, and both can jump fences of the heights you describe, so I don't think you are being unreasonable to expect Bert to do this physically.
From what I know of the incomperable Bert, he`s perfectly capable of jumping the height you want him to, he just doesn`t see why he should , no idea how you can encorage him to do it though, have you tried with really low jumps, say 6" and work up from there?
Saying that CJ isn`t a jumper either, I can use a chair on its side to block him from a room and he won`t jump it , so, maybe its all those pets in there wots done it
An offbeat suggestion ...... Maybe try a different context - is there anyone near you who trains agility as that might generate some enthusiasm for jumping and you could up the height steadily but the poles knock off easily so no danger of bumps?
How adorable is Bert?!! Firstly I would like to volunteer my services to Bert and offer to be his personal 'leggy-upper-person' as a chap like Bert really shouldn't be expected to have to exert himself in any shape or form!
If this isn't practical (!) then what about clicker-training him to defy gravity? Bert, and his love of food seems an ideal candidate for clicker training and I'm quite sure that under his thick skull lies a very sharp brain! I would aim to get him really, really crazy about the clicker and then start working him on stepping over a pole on the ground for a click and treat. Once he's twigs this, I'd raise the pole onto 2 small plant pots so he has to start lifting his feet and then move it up a couple of inches at a time. I think that once he's caught on he'd be nipping over your stock fencing like a young gazelle! I am happy to offer my services as Bert's personal coach, in return for a cuddle from him!
If all else fails, then I think Bert should come and spend the shooting season on my sofa with a nice bit of C-Beebies TV (nothing to taxing for him) and a packet of custard creams to dunk in his tea!
Just another thought- a lot of dogs don't have much spacial-awareness (spelling?) and have no idea where their back legs are, or where their back legs end and The World starts! I can imagine that this very thing must be very confusing for Bert, who probably lies there for many an hour, pretending to be asleep whilst really pondering this very question!
One thing to make them more 'back-end-aware' is to lie a ladder flat on the ground and walk them over it, so they have to start thinking about where they are placing their back feet. This can increase a dog's confidence and might make him more inclined to lift his back end off the ground.
Or else Bert might decide that a horizontal ladder is the ideal place to take a snooze!
I saw Bert lift his front and back legs off the ground. Not at the same time mind... but he was shifting... and jumped another dog! He was chasing Brooke.... THEN I saw him hump her!
So he can jump... I saw it with my own two eyes!!!!!
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, no idea how you can encorage him to do it though, have you tried with really low jumps, say 6" and work up from there?
, so, maybe its all those pets in there wots done it 
