super virtical advice

[aanr]

Last year Beau won the Super Virtical at the Pensacola Sea Food Festival. He was 1.5 yrs old. His best was 5.6'. I started him at 4' since it was his first time. He jumped his *** off to get there. 12 times. A year later after training all year I am confident He can do 6' plus. Being it's my desision on where to start him I'm scared and torn at what height I shoud start him at. I don't want to tire him out jumping to many times. I am thinking 5.2 or 4. I would like some profesional advice. Beau is 2.5 yrs old Gloden retriver. Thanks for your input.
Kim

[Sassy Girl]

Hi Kim,

I like to set my dogs up to get a few rounds to get warmed up and comfortable. Ensuring their striding is good before taking them to a height they may struggle with.

For my dog that gets 6'10" regularly, we come in at 6', sometimes 6'2, for my dog who gets 6'4" regularly, I will come in at 5'6" or 5'8" depending on how they are feeling that day (it is an older dog). My newest SV jumper comes in between 5'4" now that he has hit the 6'4" height.

Would love to hear what others do....

[aanr]

Thank you for that advice. The way I've been training Beau is I have him sit/stay 20 some ft away from the end of the pool. I have a 10ft surf fishing pole. I made a toy hanger that duplicates your toy hanger. I hold it over the middle of the pool at your required 8ft and tell him to get it. He runs,jumps and snatches the toy off. I've been watching his take off and his back feet are very close to the edge of the pool. I know that the distance we have been practicing is within your required distance so I' not going to change that. He has snatched it where the toy is higher than my head and I'm 6ft tall. I like you would like to hear other peoples ways they train their dogs and any advice that they have.
Thanks Kim

[Kruml's Rudy]

Practice a few times with your dog to see where he's comfortable and making a clean catch just below his P.B. That will conserve a lot of energy for the main event. If his P.B. is 5' then practice at 4'6". Obviously, if he's not hitting your mark then you want to start lower. According to the dock diving masters...........you only need three strides to the end of the dock since it is about power and not speed. You have to able to judge your dog and how they are performing on any given day.

[Spit]

I am ABSOLUTELY no expert but I really should be taking notes on SV because it is such a strategic game that I cannot figure out for the life of me other then to say each dog is SO different. I have had 2 SV dogs in my time. Both Doberman Pinschers and both built and driven differently. Spooky was a tall long and lanky doberman with a long neck. He was no speed and all pop from day one. He could have probably hit well over 8 ft in his prime as that is how high he would go naturally just jumping for his bumper. I started him anywhere from 18-20ft for SV. He was 8yrs old when he got his 7 ft catch and his starting height was 6'6. Things would factor in for him though. He was really noise sensitive with gunfire so he would shut down in that case. Elements had to be perfect.

King on the other hand is much shorter. He has a huge muscular rear, short neck and out weighed Spooky by 15lbs. The first time we tried SV I had him back at 18 ft and he was getting too much speed to hit the bumper even at 4.5 ft.LOL The next time we tried it he had jumped all day and I started him at 11ft on the dock and the bumper was set at 5'4 after practice. King hit 7ft this time starting from 5'4 with only two misses. Both were my errors from moving him. I moved him back once and forward once. I should have left him where he was.

The next time we tried it, he came to the event not warmed up. Didn't even look up at the 6'0 bumper at practice and struggled to catch the 5'4 bumper on the second try. He was in the 10-11ft range the whole time but had several misses with a finish of 6'2. I then realized how important it is to warm the dog up for this. It takes way too much strength and concentration.

Again, these are totally my opinions. Hope it helps, or at least to know that whatever you do or figure out may very well be unique to the dog. Not the breed.:-)))

[aanr]

Question? In super virtical last year you guys did not offer practice time. Is this a norm? Can I/ We ask for warm up for the virtical warm up time? We have time between distance compitition to get ready for compitition. What about the Super Virtical? A couple jumps for them to get comfortable.
Kim

[Katiesmom]

there is always a little time for a warmup jump for super v, if the distance event is going longer than usual, you might only get 2 practice jumps, it all depends on who is working the event and how much time there is. get to know your splash dog staff at the event and ask if you can get some super v time. at the same time dont do too much practice, super v tires out a dog more than anything.

as for katie doing super v, she uses 16 ft, that gives her 3 strides, anything more she plains out and does not get the air. usually start her at 5.4 or 5.6, depends on how she is looking. she normally does 5.10, nails over 6 in practice all the time , lol.

jason

[Sassy Girl]

At all SV events there should be a warm up time, each dog should get at least one jump at the bumper. This is how I set my starting heights, Kim, where do you normally jump and I'll double check with the staff. By the way, one practice jump to me is not enough which is why I give my dogs a few more rounds at lower heights. I don't want them going out and struggling from the beginning of the competition.

Dock placement is important, seen a lot of handlers place their dog in wrong place on dock and dog is too vertical even on lower heights, causing really bad form. Watch where your dog peaks, a few inches can throw it all off. I play with 2-3 strides, depending on which dog I'm jumping, that goes between 9 and 14 feet.

[aanr]

We jump at the Pensacola seafood festival this week end. They didnt offer a warm up time last year.

[Sassy Girl]

I will talk to Tony about it before you guys get started this weekend. Just like with Super Air - all dogs should get a chance to acclimate to the dock and apparatus.