I did this video partially so that I could see what is going on with him and also to get pointers from anyone who has them.
Kaiser has a slight luxating patella on the right hind. It did not cause any problems until this past summer, when I began to notice him making odd jumps more frequently. He crashed several bars by landing directly on top of them -- generally following a "stutter/pop" jump style.
Out of concern for his safety, I lowered his jump height to 8" in NADAC -- Kaiser measures 14" and previously jumped 12". His has seemed happy and confident at 8" -- he will still occasionally stutter/pop, but he hasn't been crashing bars. In addition, he's been running faster.
I plan to start doing some USDAA, where he will be required to jump 12" in the Performance program (as low as he can go). Because of this, I wanted to again focus on improving his jump style and strength. We have been doing jump drills and peanut work to help with this. If anyone has any other exercises I'd love to hear some ideas.
There has been improvement already! Previously Kaiser wouldn't jump 16" from right to left, he would just keep going under the bar. The fact that he is trying and succeeding gives me hope!
Great "basement style" agility work!
lexisdogs 1 month ago