OB310: Ob-ility

The following is an example of obility from the lectures; how to teach the broad jump 'obility' style.

In this exercise, I will assume that your dog can jump over a tiny jump, or your dog can go between uprights. The reason I do not emphasize the jump is that the ob-ility broad jump exercise is not a jumping exercise; it is simply about going "straight ahead" while I stand in the broad jump position.

If that sounds confusing, note that I teach the pattern for the glove exercise without the dog ever fetching a glove. Same here; the dog can learn the pattern of the broad jump without a broad jump!
For me the relevant question is...Can your dog go in a straight line between two poles? And...can they do that when something is in the middle, like a tiny jump? If you have that, then it's a simple matter to add a larger jump when your dog has developed their jumping skills.

Until I found Ob-ility, I hated teaching the broad jump. Seemed tedious and pointless. Now I love it! Here we go:
The AKC Broad Jump (intermediate exercise)
Work on "fly" between two objects approximately 30 feet apart

Add a new expectation – after sending the dog around one stanchion – back up and have dog come back to you for a reward; without going around the second stanchion. The main difference – if you want the dog to move forward, you step forward toward the second stanchion. If you want the dog to return to you, back up or pivot in place as soon as the dog is parallel to you and heading towards the second stanchion. Say 'come' at first to help the dog learn that when you pivot in place or step back, you want a recall; not a fly:

Stay at this step until you can either bring your dog back to front with a pivot, or send your dog on with a forward, sweeping motion. It's your choice if you occasionally add a front. MOST of the time the dog should be sent on – movement is more important at this stage than control.
Add a single board or tiny jump between the fly objects. Note that I occasionally back up and have Raika come to front after jumping. This is not very important at this stage but you'll want to know how to do it eventually.

Finally, spread out the broad jump, one board at a time. If your dog has no clue about jumping over a broad jump board, but understands a bar jump, go ahead and substitute a bar jump set at eight inches for the first board. You can add the broad jump around it. Then remove the bar out of the jump and remove one stanchion at a time after that. If your dog is tiny, place the bar on the ground. Then switch to a broad jump board (single) on its side.

Note that I alternate all sorts of ways of completing the jump – sometimes I bring her to front. Sometimes I sent her on to the 'start fly' and sometimes I turn on a pivot and formalize the exercise. When you are closer to needing the formalized exercise you can decide what you are comfortable with:

When I'm closer to formalizing the exercise, I occasionally take away the second object for flying. When I pivot on a spot and the second pole is gone, the dog should follow that body cue and come into a front. I never totally eliminate that second pole from practice, because it's such a fun way to practice this exercise. However, your dog does need to be able to do the broad jump without it. Hopefully, you'll have enough repetitions of jumping straight that corner cutting will be minimized and then you can introduce various techniques for formalizing the exercise, such as throwing rewards straight ahead or running straight ahead with your dog (Both beyond the teaching point of this class).

To help you understand how to handle mistakes and how to move forward, here is a video of Lyra showing LOTS of mistakes – we hadn't' done this exercise in a while and I thought someone might benefit from this session. I do try to show all of the steps above, except that I spread out the broad jump boards here very quickly and I left the bar jump in. There is no reason to include the bar jump if your dog already knows the broad jump.