Jumping Pups

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Skhosu

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Having seen for myself the result of jumping pups, over anything, I cannot undersand why people keep insisting on doing it?
I have a lab who is now 7, who was arthritic at TWO. She was overjumped as I didn't believe it would make any difference, I didn't do too long walks, but she enjoyed her jumping, what was the problem?
Seeing her now, stiff, on metacam when she gets really bad and a possible hip replacement candidate, when I see pics on here of pups jumping, again and again it just annoys me.
What age are they supposed to be able to start?
 
They are allowed to compete at 18months but are allowed to jump before that! And i guess your on about me!!! I think in moderation its fine! If you overjumped her then that would be why, but in moderation i dont see the problem!
eta we only did it for like 5 mins if that!
 
yes, you are one of the people. What age is yours?
Go and ask an agility club what age they allow them to start jumping, ask the vet, and what height they jump them then?
 
almost 1,
We asked our club and they said well whenever your happy (not that young though within reason) and 18months until we can compete. We said wed wait til she was at least 1 because if her bones and they said i htink thats fair enough!
We dont mind the odd jump every so often (havnt jumped for months!) and we would not do a lot like a corse.
What are your views on thsoe questions you asked me?! Thanks!
 
Just researched it and they said 1 year before clubs but can do jumps and tunnels and weaves in small amounts before.
Do you think we were jumping to big? Or what? Or just because we were jumping and shes not quite 1?! Shes 11 months (just over)
Thanks for any advice, i do appriate it!
 
I think it also depends on the ground they are jumped on.
At things like HOYS, Olympia etc they are in the sand arenas. At horse shows they are on grass.
I'm not sure what some training clubs jump on, our local one uses an indoor school at the riding school.
 
Agree about the surface, same as horses.
Had I a pup now, I would probably introduce small jumps (by that I mean of the size a mini dog in agility would jump, as this is what the club said they would introduve my lab over when we began) at a year, minimum. I mean sort of ankle height, to teach them what to do. Possibly 14months for proper jumping.
There is no rush, you know your dog can jump so why not wait until you can join the agility club? There is a reason they have minimum ages.
I would have thought a maximum of 50cm until she is a year would be ideal, but that is just me.
How can you tell what damage could be done to the growing limbs?
 
I will openly admit that I do not own a dog, never have and probably never will but I feel I do have a reasonable grasp of what the results of over jumping can do after months of working at a vets.

Personally, I think there is a <u>massive</u> difference between having a mess about over a couple of sticks occasionally in the garden and repeatedly jumping a puppy over 2'6" every day of the week. I cannot comprehend how jumping a few sticks once a month is any worse than the dogs who are allowed to jump on and off high beds ten times a day, charge down stairs and throw themselves off the settee etc. Certainly I was FAR happier when I was at the vets to see a happy, one year old, bouncing puppy that had jumped a few twigs, charged about the countryside getting muddy and was fit, happy and healthy than I ever was to see paranoid owners with fat, bored dogs that had barely been allowed to move. As far as I know, bones need to have some form of impaction to allow them to strengthen properly anyway and a little bit of stress on the bones will allow them to do that. Dogs will naturally run around and jump in the air etc. anyway, collies especially, so leaping up in the air twenty times to chase a pigeon is hardly any worse than hopping over a broom handle once in a blue moon is it!
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Night_Breeze - if you're happy, your dog is happy and you're, as you've said, only jumping little jumps very occasionally I can't see the problem. Go and have some fun and good luck with the agility in 6 months time!
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Thanks for the advice guys! I know what you mean about waiting now i know so probably will now i knwo the risks more!
SF thank you! Im sure shell have a lot of fun like she does doing the smaller things now!
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xXx
 
the hip problems are not necessarily totally due to jumping, but she is stiff in her elbows as well, and has been since 2 years old, she was lame at around 1-1.5yrs due to jumping too big (we only jumped her every so often but would be over sticks on chairs etc.). Her problems are not solely due to the jumping but significantly affected by it.
I am confident that if she hadn't jumped until she was 18months/2yrs she would have had a longer span before the arthritis kicked in.
It certainly did not help and we all know that too much exercise can damage a pups legs.
As she is nearly one (I did think she was more like 6-8months) you're probably ok but I am not sure your jumps are all that tiny when she is jumping that at the highest part. What about plant pots et.c.
You are not the only one I've seen jumping pups, so not meaning to focus on you, it seems to be something that maybe isn't warned enough about, along with jumping on and off high beds. Some much younger than yours!
Our 1yr old terrier is just being introduced to small jumps. It's a bit like horses, apart from performance horses you tend to limit their jumping as a 4yr old to small heights, then build it up as they get older and their skeleton is more mature.
 
current diet is obesity food from the vets as she is on weight loss, think is might be royal canin or the science plan one. Why?
 
what about the plant pot? BTW thats the only thing she actually jumps on...oh and on the trampoline when shes in the garden but were working on that as he bites your legs when you bounce
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!
She never jumps the jumps at the highest bit...wimp hehe well i dont mind anyway TBF!
 
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current diet is obesity food from the vets as she is on weight loss, think is might be royal canin or the science plan one. Why?

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I meant her diet in previous years...
 
I used to do agility with my GSDs. Never started jumping until they were 12 months and we had had their hips x-rayed and scored. Prior to this they did tunnels, etc and a frame, dog walk, seesaw under close supervision. When I first started agility dogs could compete at 12 months, mine never did. Later the rules were changed to 18 months to allow young dogs time to grow, mine were always okay to start competing at 18 months despite not training prior to 12 months. Lighter breeds are probably ok to start jumping younger than 12 months but I would never do anything more than the odd little jump in heavier breeds. However, if they are going to have bad hips it will unfortunately happen I think regardless of how careful you are. There was a craze in the states for a while of caging pups to try and improve hips. It didn't work
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. Imo it makes sense to apply the same thinking to jumping a young dog that you would to a young horse.
 
in previous years it was puppy food followed by adult food, always dry, she only put on weight in the last 3-4 years. I couldn't tell you the brand of her food I have to say!
 
I'm just comparing it to what I have. We all know these complete dog foods are bad for dogs and contain chemicals and also undigestible grains.

Having Coeliacs disease one thing that is a worry if I carried on eating wheat and gluten would be Arthritis and Osteoperosis.

Does it have the same affect on dogs as in humans I wonder?
 
I think that there are varying schools of thoughts on this, if I'm correct you don't feed complete dog food, you feed raw meat. I don't have a problem with the dog feeds I feed, it's all either from a small company who mixes his own or from the vet reccomended source. Are you saying all dogs with arthritis have coaliacs disease?
And I don't think 'we all know these complete dog foods are bad for dogs' is actually a widely held view, or necessarily correct.
 
it would be interesting to see a complete study done over a lifetime of dogs of natural vs. complete foods. Much like horse foods though I would imagine, you can do complete or from the grain so to speak.
We only ever feed the vet food or from this guy, so not up on which brands are best tbh
 
A version of it, yes. Do you think its right to feed your dog chemicals and grains that are undigestible? The only grain you'll ever find a wild fox eating is maize which is more a vegetable anyway.

I think its wrong when you have nothing to back up your statement to say its wrong to jump a dog under a year. Husky pups can be put in harness for short periods from the age of 6 months and they can live well into their mid to late teens.
 
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it would be interesting to see a complete study done over a lifetime of dogs of natural vs. complete foods. Much like horse foods though I would imagine, you can do complete or from the grain so to speak.
We only ever feed the vet food or from this guy, so not up on which brands are best tbh

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Even the ingredients in vet food are somewhat interesting. Why does everyone think a dog needs a 'balanced diet' when their digestive systems are meant to eat over 95% fat and protein in their diet?

The 14/16/25% protein you see on the back packet of a complete dog food is more often than not Soya, which won't be doing the dog much good anyway.
 
So your saying it is perfectly fine to jump or overexercise pups under 1 year?
I really don't think that all dogs with arthritis have coaliacs. What about all the healthy older dogs? So if all dogs were fed meat they would not get arthrities?
Shame about the 95% fat as I have a friend whose dog has just been told no fat in the diet at all....
would be interested to know where your facts come from?
 
Not coeliacs but how can it be good to feed a dog an undigestible grain? Wheat is a young grain in the grand scheme of things, its a few thousand years old, dogs were domesticated 15,000 years ago, so how would their digestive systems evolve to cope with chemicals(and with chemicals we're talking the last 50-60 years) and grains that quickly?

Apart from 100% pigs ears there aren't many dogs treats that don't contain chemicals, bleaching, addatives, preservatives e.t.c. - I ALWAYS check the ingredients and finding dog treats that don't contain c*ap is hard work. My dogs don't ever have to have their anal glands squeazed because the consistency of their stools is hard as it should be and not soft or even sloppy as you see with some dogs.

How many people know of dogs with cancer? I know of 9 in the past 5 months! You are what you eat I'm afraid.

Here's a link you can visit... it tells all of the affects complete dog foods have on our beloved pets!

'Raw Meaty Bones' by Tom Lonesdale - it makes for a very interesting read.
http://www.culpeppers.co.uk/catalogue/?_Culpep=40327172A3Ow-KIpz5k&amp;cat=books

And whilst we're at it, I don't believe wheat is good for humans either, hence our original diet also being made up of over 97% fat and protein 3% carbs (not complex, ie. vegetation). If a lifetime of wheat can give me tummy cancer, arthritis, osteo.p then why is it so hard to believe it can do this to your dog?

Your horse is meant to eat grass, you wouldn't go feeding it bread now would you?
 
This inspires me as much as some of the natural horsemanship claptrap I'm afraid. You wouldn't be of the conspiracy regarding dog food manufacturers mind would you? Because whilst I appreciate your point of view I wonder where are your statistics?
Again-do you then see no problem with jumping pups and walking them long distances?
Interested to know what you make of this brand:
http://www.oscars.co.uk/home.ikml

and the dog that cannot be fed fat?
 
95% fat and protein...careful you quote my figures correctly please.

Why have they been told not to feed their dog fat? Fat and protein don't increase the weight of a dog, they make them lean and muscled (protein increases muscle and creates new cells). Carbs (wheat) put weight on. Its no different in humans.

Its not pork, lamb or steak that makes you fat, its cakes, biscuits and bread.
 
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