Daisy Peel

So how do you teach a dog, hey, you have to change leads twice and slalom through these uprights, but I'm just going to run straight.

I don't start teaching jumping until the dogs are maybe 10 to 12 months old.

The mechanical skills, I think probably six or seven months.

But I think a year or so I would say, maybe two years before I would say, this dog is fluent.

This dog is reading the line, adjusting its stride, it doesn't appear surprised.

There's a genetic component to it.

So there are some families of dogs that are just wicked talented jumpers and smart and they want to jump.

They have all of these different ways that they're comfortable jumping.

They're comfortable getting close to a bar before they lift.

And then there are other dogs that are just, they can be functional jumpers, maybe even smart jumpers, but it's not the same.

And then there are other dogs, and I don't know if this ever happens in IGP, but there are there in the Shelties and the Border Collies and the Papillons and a couple of other breeds.

There are some dogs that very clearly either have a depth perception issue or a vision issue and they take off early and then they crash and then they start to stutter step and then they're done.

Their jumping arc is usually before the bar and they're coming down.

And they can do that when they're young and they're powerful.

But when they misjudge and also often... And then it gets in their head.

Yes.

But before that, it's kind of problematic because they can be very competitive.

Because when they jump early, it's faster.

So they can be very competitive when they're young and powerful and land sooner.

And they, and then those dogs get bred because they're winning and they get bred young.