Dylan's Jumping

There’s always something. Dylan’s weaves are good right now, his seesaw is fast and although his dogwalk and aframe still need more work, they’ve improved. But now … jumping.

This has been bothering me for a long time, actually, but I haven’t been quite sure where to start, or even whether it’s just me seeing things.

I have spent hours today watching back every video from the past 12months. It is pretty clear to me that as a rule, Dylan jumps with his hind legs tucked under him. I’m not sure this has gotten any worse since he’s started competing, and I’m not sure it’s a physical limitation or injury. He extends fully over long jumps and he also has no problems extending in flyball. However, I do think it’s gotten worse as Dylan’s enthusiasm has increased. From what I can see, Dylan just doesn’t understand how to run flat out and jump over large jumps.

This past weekend, it was very noticable that Dylan worked the pinwheel style bends better than he worked the straights. His jumping action was long and clean, he shaped his body around the turn and he took just one, long stride between each jump. As soon as he hit the straight again, he began to take short, chopped strides into jumps, and his jumping action was shorter and more tucked. See clip below!

First two jumps are nice; long clean jumping action with single stride in between the jumps, good take-off points and good landing. The whole thing looks smooth. I note I am handling from just in front, having done a front cross in the gap, and that there are no other options or obstacles which might distract or impede from Dylan’s path. Third jump approach starts off well, but then Dylan appears to shorten his stride (stutters into the jump) and doesn’t power into the turn. He’s clearly not flexing his body around the turn – perhaps he thinks he has to slow down to make the turn? I’m handling from some distance away, I don’t cue the turn all that well. He’s jumping into the wall.

Things like this make me think that the problem is with turning, and that we’re back to the previous issue of Dylan not knowing how to move his body whilst he’s jumping (or rather, I’ve taught it badly, and too late, which is also true).

Again, on the curve, we’ve got fairly decent jumping. It’s not as nice as the above and I don’t know why; I rear-crossed at the top when I should have maybe tried to race him for a front cross? The motion cues maybe aren’t as strong? Anyway, it’s the final straight that concerns me most, where Dylan drops his front end forward and collects his stride to put in two short, choppy strides. Is it because he couldn’t make the single extended stride? I’m not entirely sure I buy that. Is it because he’s running in to the fence? Thinks he’s finishing the course?

I also think Dylan is jumping off his front end rather than his back end, but I find it quite hard to tell. In the last clip in particular, his jumping appears to be focussed on getting his front end up and over, rather than really using his back end to power his whole body over. Or is it all just down to his naturally cautious personality? Either way, it means I am going to have to do some serious jump training, and to stop assuming that he’s as smart and athletic as Kim and can figure this out for himself. (Not to demean Dylan, he has skills that Kim has never had, like a willingness to learn and work, and a constant enthusiasm for agility!)