Double the Fun

On several occasions, Beckett has crashed into the second bar of a double jump. I think it's because, unlike with the spread jump, he doesn't get any cues that he has to jump further to make it over. I've been using the same verbal cue for all the jumps except for the tire. I decided to invest in a double jump for the back yard but after researching several jumps decided to make one myself.

The Agility Nerd has a great blog entry on building a double jump including some tips on avoiding what, I would think, would be quite common mistakes.  The jump cup frames come from J & J Dog Supplies, they weren't inexpensive once shipping was added in, but all in all I think building the jump myself did save a bit of money.  It sure was a good thing I had found the Agility Nerd's blog as what I thought were instructions in the box with the jump cup frames was just an instruction on how to measure and fasten the jump cup frames to the standard; there were no instructions on how to build your jump standard.  The specialty PVC fittings I got from Formufit; as unfortunately other than straight lengths of PVC, those fittings are hard to find here in Canada, well at least in Ottawa.

I ordered everything to make the jump some months ago but just got around to building it this week. I went to cut the PVC on Wednesday afternoon and I found out that the size of the cutter is measured by the outside diameter of the tubing while the size of the tubing is measured on the inside opening; so it was off to Lowe's to get another cutter. Needless to say that I didn't get the jump built on Wednesday.

Thursday, I was just going to cut the PVC for one standard but then decided to cut all the pieces for both standards.  My hands were some sore after cutting the PVC; I really need to have a bench vice grip or something to hold the PVC while I turn the cutter.  It's pretty hard to get the pieces cut to exactly the same length and as a result one standard is a bit taller but that's okay since you measure from the ground to fasten the jump cup strips.

All the PVC parts for our double jump

After I got all the pieces cut, I decided to go ahead and dry fit the standards; I found as the Agility Nerd mentioned in his blog that the fit was so tight no PVC glue was required.  The assembly went so well that I went ahead and fastened the jump cup strips to the frames. Again, thanks to the Agility Nerd I knew to start measuring how the holes of the frame would sit on the PVC standards before tightly fitting the standards. If you had made the standard too small it would have been quite hard to pull it apart again.

One double jump standard assembled.

Even though it was past supper time, I went ahead and finished the other jump standard since the assembly had gone so smoothly. The hardest thing was putting some of the end caps on the feet, boy were they tight. Today, I got my rubber mallet out of the camping gear and pounded the taller standard down just a bit, now they look almost the same height.

Both jump standards

I have some lengths of 3/4" PVC in the garage that I bought to make a "Hit It" box; they've been there for about a year (or more). I may use that PVC to make the jump bars or I could just use the bars from the jumps that are already in the basement.

I hope by retraining Beckett on the double jump; I plan on using a different verbal cue that he will begin to realize that he has to jump farther to clear the double and the days of crashing on the second bar will be over.