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Cheap Dog Agility Equipment: Bar Jumps
It's a snap to make cheap dog agility equipment such as Bar Jumps. All you need is PVC pipe, colored tape, toilet paper rolls and rubber bands. Assembly is quick and easy with the right size pieces and connectors. Leaving the PVC unglued makes it easy to take jumps apart to transport or store them.
Here's Comet sitting behind the bar jump his second day of training.
With a piece of cheese as a reward, he clears it easily every time!
BASIC BAR JUMP
Here are instructions for one jump with 3 bars:ESTIMATED TIME - 1 hour 10 minutes - To purchase pipe and connectors and cut pipe: 30 minutes
- To assemble pipe: 5 to 10 minutes
- To make 6 cups: 5 to 10 minutes each
- Final touches: 10 minutes
MATERIALS
FOR JUMP WITH 3 BARS:- Four 3/4 inch (20 mm) T connectors
- Colored tape
- Thirty feet (9.15 m) of 3/4 inch (20 mm) PVC pipe
- [Cut pipe into six pieces 4 feet (122 cm) long and six pieces 1 foot (30 cm) long]
Note: Pipe lengths can be inexact.
Ours were cut at a store out of 10-foot lengths and pieces vary by an inch or so. You can use thicker 1-inch (25 mm) PVC to make agility equipment, which is what competition jumps are made of.It will cost a little more, but you will still be getting cheap dog agility equipment compared to buying it ready made.
TO MAKE 6 CUPS:
- 3 empty toilet paper rolls or equivalent
- 6 strips of stiff cardboard, approx 1 by 5 inches (2.5 by 12 cm)
- tape: electrical, colored, duct, masking or whatever is on hand
- 6 short bungee cords or elastic cord or rubber bands
ESTIMATED COST- The PVC, tape and bungee cords should cost you under USD 20.
- We paid USD 16 total since all we needed to purchase was the PVC.
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE JUMP:
- Attach a T connector (#2) to one end of a 4-foot piece of pipe (#1)
- Attach a 1-foot piece of pipe to the other end of the T (#3)
- Attach a 4-foot piece to the vertical part of T-connector #2 (#4)
- Attach the perpendicular end of another T to 1-footer #3 (#5)
- Attach 1-foot pieces to each side of T-connector #5 (#6, #7)
- Follow the same steps with the other end of #1
- You should now have the base and sides of your jump
- Optional: You can enlarge your base by adding a T-connector to #6 and #7 and attaching 1-footers (as per the photo with Comet at the top of the page).
FOR THE CROSS BARS:- Wind colored tape around the pipe at 6 to 9 inch (15 to 22 cm) intervals
- This apparently helps the dog see the jump better
TO MAKE THE CUPS:
- Take a toilet paper roll and cut in half across the roll
- Now cut across the curve, top and bottom
- You should have two identical, cup-like pieces(see above photo)
- Nest the pieces inside each other and tape together
- Bend one of the stiff cardboard strips at 2 inches
- Tape the 3 inch part to the outside (bottom) curve of your cup pieces (see photo above)
- Cover both the cup and "handle" with colored tape
- Be careful not to flatten out the curve of the cups
- There's your first cup! You'll need two for each crossbar
ATTACHING THE CUPS TO THE UPRIGHT BARS:
- Place the handle of your cup against your upright pole
- Attach firmly to the pole with a bungee cord or rubber band (slide the rubber band over the top end of the pole. If need be, double or triple it to get the right tension
- You should be able to slide your cup to where you want it
- When you have a cup on each upright you can put a bar across
- Repeat process for more cups and bars
That's all there is to making cheap dog agility equipment!Wings are a common type of cheap dog agility equipment that can be added to bar jumps. They can be created out of almost any materials including thin plywood, latticework, plastic greenhouse panels, cardboard etc. - just ensure they're something your dog will not want to plow through.
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Cheap Dog Agility Equipment: Bar Jumps
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Dog Exercise Equipment
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