hey. me and my dog do agility and i am working on the jumping right now. she is a very good jumper but can't jump hurdles because she gets scared and goes under them. i usually block off the bottom but i want to take her to shows and i just can't get her to stop going under them! heeeeellllp! :S x

what type of dog is it, make sure the hurtles aren't to high at first, try smaller ones.

What breed is your dog? How old are they? How high are the jumps?
Agility needs to be done under the supervision of a trainer. It's so easy to train things wrong. So please, don't continue to attempt agility training without taking an agility class. Since jumping is the main obstacle in agility, if you train it wrong- you're going to have a lot of problems down the road. With jumping, your dog needs to learn how to adjust their stride.
When first starting to jump, the jumps should be kept low- practically on the ground. You can slowly higher them. But starting out at competition height, or close to it, is not going to help train your dog. I've heard that when practicing at home it's best not to train at competition height because it puts a lot of stress on their joints and muscles. When I train with my beagle, Carley, I keep the jump heights at about half of what she would be jumping in competition. Occassionally I do bring it up to full height though.
Also, do you know why she's afraid of the jumps? Did she knock one and it startled her once? Have you told her no when she was near it (going under, knocking bars, etc.)? Agility needs to be a positive sport. Your dog can't be afraid at all on the course. Try associating the jump with something good for her. Give her treats when she goes near it.
But seriously, take some classes. They help a LOT. If you plan on competing, it's really the only way to do it right. Otherwise you're going to train things wrong- whereas someone who has trained multiple agility dogs could tell you how to improve what you're doing and how to do it right. For instance, last summer when I first started training Carley for agility, I was training the teeter at home. I ended up training her to stop at the pivot point which really slows her down (and I was following a book's instructions- should have checked the copyright. Agility is a fast changing sport and you should only get books on it if they're 3 years old or less). Now, a year later I'm still retraining her teeter so that she runs to the end. You also need a partner to help you train. The teeter, tunnel, and chute are three obstacles that come to mind that need two people to train.

thanks for the concern but i had a trainer. teaching her strides and telling me the right tequnike. she is a 4yr old blak lab. she is verrrry sweet natured so i dnt want to be meen at her. also i am trying to think of a show name her name is poppy, her full name is popperella von jansen and i need a gd show name 4 her. p.s her nick names are:
pops
poppadom
floppy
popple
pop'dom

pleaaaase help.

What was the kennel name her breeder was using? That should typically be the first part of your dog's name. Then a lot of people attach the names of the parent dogs to the pup.
Let's take one of my favorite beagle show dogs for instance, Windkist A Walk in the Park, aka Parker. His daughter's registered name is Windkist Barefoot in the Park. and his son's name is Lanbur a Walk On the Wildside.
If I could rename Carley, it would be __ Mark My Words-aka Markie, because the whole reason why I was able to get her was because of a promise my mom made me when I was only 3 or 4 years old. Try being unique and come up with things that have to do with her- like where she came from, how you got her, her quirks, etc.

With agility, you still need a trainer. You said you had one- but really you need to keep taking classes. Your instructor can probably help you a lot with jumping.
Little things like saying- at or wrong to a dog when they're doing something in agility can mess them up because they're trying their best not to make a mistake. I did this once with Carley when she went to take a jump and I was calling her to a tunnel (I believe). I simply said uh-uh to her (not harsh or anything- just normal tone) and the next time I took her up to the jump she was slow and would walk around it. Is it possible that you have had a similar instance- since you said your dog is scared of the jumps?
I would really just start over jumping with her with the jumps really low- practically on the floor and slowly raise the bar back up.

Maybe your dog dosnet like it!!! You know you can't force your dog to anything, it just makes it loose trust in you!

quote:

Originally posted by cockergrl23:
Maybe your dog dosnet like it!!! You know you can't force your dog to anything, it just makes it loose trust in you!

I have done agility with her for her whole life and i have grown up training dog -- believe me, i can tell if a dog is unhappy with something and she loves to jump with me! i would never force her to do anything!