One of the hardest decisions when it comes to training agility is choosing how many verbal jump cues to teach your dog - and yourself! Different cues make it easier for your dog to know what kind of jump he’s expected to perform, which adds safety and speed. It also increases a dog’s confidence and, thus, makes the sport more enjoyable for him.

On the other hand, the more jump cues, the easier it is to mix them up when adrenaline rushes through your veins in competitions. And that doesn’t add confidence, does it? So, how many cues do you actually need for jumps? And what is the right number for you and your dog?

The number of jump cues seems to have increased

When I started agility 10 years ago, in Finland most people had two cues for a jump: jump and backside. Today course profiles and increasing speed require much more independence and skills from the dog, which has challenged handlers to teach their dogs more cues. We organised a little poll in Facebook´s Agility Training Challenges concerning the issue.

72 handlers answered the poll, so you need to keep in mind that the sample is quite small. However, the results do give an idea of how people have solved the issue.

Most handlers (44%) have ended up with 6 cues and 89% use 5 or more cues! So I think it’s safe to say that the number of cues has increased quite a bit in recent years. But what are those cues and what are they used for?

Poll (n.= 72)

• 10 cues 5 votes 7%

• 8 cues 12 votes 17%

• 7 cues 7 votes 10%

• 6 cues 32 votes 44%

• 5 cues 8 votes 11%

• 4 cues 5 votes 7%

• 3 cues 2 votes 3%

• 1 cues 1 vote 1%

What jump cues agility handlers use and what are they used for?

There were mainly different cues for

1. Jumping straight

2. Slight turn

3. Tight turn

4. Backside

5. Threadle S-line

6. Threadle wrap

In addition to these, there were cues that combined a slight or tight turn and a direction (right or left) of the jump and some cues that separated different backside jumps such as Backside wrap, Backside slice and Backside rear cross. It’s quite clear that different handlers structure the entity of jumps in slightly different ways.

What kind of cue words to choose for jumps?

The goal of giving more detailed information to the dog is to be fair to him. When his understanding grows, he can relax even more since things like when to collect or lengthen his stride or where the course continues after a jump, won’t surprise him. This makes the sport safer and more fun for the dog. However, make sure to choose cues that are easy to separate phonetically. Your dog hears well, but easily distinguished words are part of being fair.

To make sure your cues really are easy to understand and that your cue system stays clear, you can create a table for them and add your cues there. You can download a table template here and add your own cues to it. The template includes also other agility related cues.

You decide the number of jump cues

You will hear opinions like “you don’t need verbal cues at all, it’s the handling that matters” and “you need at least 10 verbal cues or you are not fit for modern agility courses”. Please note that these are just opinions. You need to consider your dog and you as a handler, and make your own decisions. It really is your choice and your choice only.

Consider what is fair for the dog, how well you can internalize different cue words yourself and how many you’ll be able to apply when you are running on a course. 12 cues, that haven't been reinforced enough, are worse than 4 that are very clear to the dog. But, don’t ever underestimate your skill to learn ;)