The broad jump will give your dog an opportunity to jump a distance horizontally rather than the vertical challenge offered by normal hurdles, as Kipp shows us above. We’ve created a jump with lower boards at either end with a raised center (this allows us to run the dogs in either direction over the jump), but you can put it together so it is approached from one side, with ascending boards the entire way; you can also space the boards differently (see design notes at end of article). Assembling a jump like we’ve built here will take three to four hours and will cost about $50.

Tools

You will need a PVC pipe cutter, a sharpie, a measuring tape and a short length of 4 x 4 or another solid block with a square edge for aligning perpendicular joints.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces and connectors (all for 1″ pipe), ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of pipe are about 24 feet in total length, which means you’ll need three 10-foot pieces of pipe to construct one broad jump. In addition to the pipe and connectors, you will need to buy one 16′ vinyl ranch fence rail.

1 16′ vinyl rance fence 6″ rail, cut into four 4′ pieces (1)
2 90-degree slip connectors (20)
3 1-¾” pipe stubs (22)
4 slip end caps (4)
5 “T” slip connectors (16)
6 5″ pipe sections (16)
7 4″ pipe sections (12)
8 30″ pipe poles (5)

Note on the fence rail: The trim aisle at Home Depot has a hand saw for cutting long pieces of trim to length; you will probably want to use this facility to cut the fence rail in half to get it home, as 16′ is pretty hard to handle. When you get the two eight foot pieces home, cut them in half; it’s more important to get all four pieces the same length than it is to have them be precisely four feet long. If your cut at Home Depot didn’t exactly split your rail, you should cut the shorter piece in half at home, and then cut two pieces from the remaining board to match. Bringing a tape measure and a marker to the store will help you cut the rail exactly in half, saving a step.

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

On this particular obstacle, you’re going to end up doing the same step as many as 16 times, so it’s a nice zen activity!

Start by gluing a 7 4″ pipe section to the center connector of a 5 “T” connector.

Do that seven more times, for a total of eight (8) identical assemblies, as shown above. These are the risers for the two high boards in the center of the jump.

Next, glue one of the 3 stubs to the center connector of a 5 “T” connector.

Do that seven more times, for a total of eight (8) identical assemblies, as shown above. These are the risers for the low boards at either end of the jump. (Do you detect a pattern here?)

In the next step, we’re going to glue a 90-degree connector to every one of those subassemblies from the prior steps. Above is how we’re going to keep the connectors aligned properly. By holding the “T” flat on our work surface, we’ll twist the 90-degree connector on and hold it flat against a scrap of 4×4 (you can use anything you want as long at it is perpendicular to your work surface).

Here we’ve taken a 2 90-degree connector and have glued it to one of the short risers we created in a previous step.

And here are all 16 sub-assemblies, glued and ready to go. Zen, I tell you, zen. Just don’t zone out too much!

Next, take your four remaining 7 4″ pipe sections and glue them to the four remaining 2 90-degree connectors. These will hold the guide poles.

Now we’re ready to assemble the side rails. Shown above are the components for one of them. We will be using two of the guide pole bases we just assembled, as well as four each of the short and tall risers, arranged short-short-tall-tall-tall-tall-short-short. To join the risers to each other we will use seven 3 pipe stubs. It’s important that this entire rail’s components are coplanar, but it’s not difficult to assemble them as such. Start at one end and work your way down, pushing each new piece flat to the work surface.

Here I’ve started to assemble a rail. I found it easier to glue the stub to the next riser in line and then glue that to the existing rail.

Here’s one rail which has been glued up. Note the double glue symbols, each of which indicates a pipe stub with a glued joint to each riser.

Before setting this rail aside to dry while assembling the other one, take eight of your 6 5″ pipe sections and glue them to the rail as shown. These are the pieces that will slip inside of your boards.

Never before has “repeat for the other side” covered more ground, but, well, use your remaining 3 stubs, riser assemblies and 6 5″ pipes to create a mirror of the rail you just assembled. Our board sequence is symmetrical, so as long as you do exactly what you did the first time, you’ll be fine.

Note: If you are making an asymmetrical jump (for example, all of your boards go up like a staircase from low to high) it is critical that you glue your risers into the new rail so they mirror the risers in the rail you’ve already assembled. If you started with low on the left on the first rail, you will need to start with low on the right on the second rail. Be very careful about this–dry-assemble the second rail and hold it up to the first as they will be used together if you have any doubts at all.

Now comes the fun part. Take one of your boards and slip it over the first two pipes on one of your rails. This is a tight sliding fit and doesn’t require any glue (which will also allow you to take it apart in the future, if you want or need to). Starting the board at an angle to go over first one pipe and then the other may make things easier. Note, if your pipes seem to interfere with the ribs inside the board, just gently spread them a bit, they may just be slightly crooked but will not interfere once they’ve started.

Push the board fully home.

Repeat for the three remaining boards. If your rails came with mounting tabs, a couple of your boards may still have them, as seen on the furthest right board here. Make sure they face down for best appearances.

Lay the rail with four boards so the rail faces down. We will now insert the other rail into the boards. This will require some patience, as there are eight pipes to fit into a fairly tight space. Start with one end with the second rail at an angle to the jump assembly. Put the first pipe a fair ways into the first board, then start bringing the rail towards the jump assembly, starting each pipe as you go. Towards the third or fourth board, you’ll need to keep watch that you don’t undo your previous work as you try to get each subsequent pipe started as the angle begins to get quite shallow.

Patience is the key, they will all eventually start! Once they do, stand the jump up on the first rail and press them together so that all boards are fully seated on both rails. Shown above are both rails fully inserted into all four boards. All of the hard work is done!

Glue the 4 end caps to the 8 guide poles…

…and then glue the guide pole assemblies to the jump, and you’re done!

And there’s our finished broad jump!

Alternative Designs

There are a lot of ways to customize this jump to your own purposes:

• You can vary the length of the pipe between the pairs of risers to space the boards further apart
• You can alter the heights of the risers for shorter or taller boards (see note below), or to have the front edge of the board lower than the rear edge.
• You can use a stair-step arrangement, from low to high (which is how I believe most “professional” broad jumps are arranged)
• You could use pairs of pipes four feet long between the risers instead of vinyl fence boards. You will probably need to wrap each pair in a material to mimic a board, though.
• It may be possible to use only a single riser per board, designed to slip into the center opening of the board. This would allow you to swivel the board slightly to have a lower leading edge, and of course would just about halve the connectors needed, cut the pipe down by about a quarter, and cut the cost by perhaps 30%. However, it will not be as sturdy, and I cannot guarantee the boards will stay put despite the tight friction fit. Let me know if you try it!

Note on board height: The lowest board on our jump still has a leading edge top height that is higher (3.5″) than many official dimensions allow. This is because off-the-shelf PVC connectors don’t allow for a lower board in this design without modification. You can modify regular PVC connectors and still use this design and get the lowest board to be just a smidge over 2″ high: Cut one leg of a 90-degree connector flush with the bottom of the other leg, and cut a center “T” connector fitting off to be flush with the rest of the connector. Join these to each other with a very small pipe-stub, probably no more than half an inch long. This won’t be the strongest joint in the world but there’s not much stress on this in any case.

This is the most basic of agility obstacles. It’s easy to make, will only take you about an hour and will cost about $12 in materials. You will need two adjustable jump cups in addition to the materials listed below for every jump bar on your hurdle.

Tools

You will need a PVC cutting tool, measuring tape, and a Sharpie or similar marking tool. In addition, you will need paper towels for cleaning glue joints.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces, ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of 1″ pipe are less than 14 feet in total length, which means you’ll need two 10 foot pieces of pipe to construct one jump, or three pieces to construct two jumps (in which case you need to double the connectors shown below). In addition, you will need a 4′ section of ¾” pipe for every jump bar.

The parts you’ll need (all 1″ diameter pipe and appropriate connectors except as noted):

1 slip end caps (6)
2 slip “T” connectors (4)
3 12″ pipe feet (4)
4 30″ pipe uprights (2)
5 1¾” pipe stubs to join “T” connectors (2)
6 50″ pipe lower cross bar (1)
7 48″ pipe jump bar, ¾” diameter (1)

Note: You can have as many jump bars as you like, of course, just clip them on.

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

Start by gluing four end caps 1 to the four feet 3.

Glue the feet into two of the “T” connectors 2.

Glue the stubs 5 into the foot assemblies.

Set aside the feet and glue the two remaining “T” connectors 2 to the 50″ cross bar 6. It is important that these two connectors be coplanar. Glue one first and let it set, then glue the other in place ensuring that both connectors are flat on your work surface as shown.

Glue one foot to the cross-bar. You can eyeball this pretty easily, let the corners of your work surface guide you as you twist the foot into place.

Repeat the process for the other foot.

Glue the two remaining end caps 1 to the two uprights 4.

Finally, glue the uprights into the base assembly. Assuming you’ve made your adjustable jump cups, you’re done!

You can see that the jump cups just clip right onto the upright.

The finished jump. I used an old cross bar salvaged from a previous adventure which was stored in such a way that it has a slight warp to it, in case you notice a bend in it. Use colored electrical tape to provide contrasting stripes on the jump bar to help your dog see it; this bar would benefit from another stripe in the center. You can also use the tape on your uprights to help them stand out.

Alternative Designs

You can make the jump bar height permanent by cutting the uprights and inserting modified “T” connectors to hold the jump bar, as described in the “jump cup” post. You can leave pieces unglued to aid storage, though I would always glue the “T” connectors to the cross bar, that is where most of the strength of this obstacle resides.

You could use your Sharpie to add reference marks to the uprights for easily setting the jump bar at particular height(s).

To make a jump with more than one jump bar, just add a couple of clips and another bar.

Related posts: Adjustable Jump Cups; Alternatives for Jump Cups.

Here are tips from Tess & Kipp:

Adjustable cups for holding cross-bars make constructing standard jumping obstacles a piece of cake. The secret to our cups is to raid the do-it-yourself irrigation section at Home Depot. Each cup will take just a few minutes to make and cost about $1.

The clip-on part of the cup is sold as a “1-inch Snap On Saddle” for irrigation systems and can be found (usually) sharing the same aisle as the pipe fittings. Making cups this way means that your cross-pieces need to be ¾” pipe (ideally). The smaller pipe for the cross pieces will be easier on your dog’s paws if they do strike the bar, too.

Tools

You will need your PVC cutter, a marker and a measuring tape or ruler.

Materials

Each cup will require one saddle piece and one 2″ section of 1″ diameter PVC pipe. You need two cups to hold up one bar.

Assembly

Important Safety Note: When you use the PVC cutter to make the lengthwise cuts in the PVC pipe, you are using it in a way it was not designed for. It’s pretty safe but take your time and be very aware of where your fingers are when you’re making the lengthwise cuts. The cutter cuts as slowly as you squeeze, but it is sharp, so be careful!

Here are the (uncleaned) pieces you need to make one cup. On the left is the “Snap Saddle” as can be seen from its label, and on the right is a two inch section of 1″ diameter PVC pipe. Make a pen mark ¾” from the end of the pipe; this will guide you when making the cut partially through the pipe.

Using the mark you made, cut a little more than halfway through the pipe, as illustrated above. Certain professional organizations have precise measurements for the depth of the cup, but “a bit more than halfway” is fine for casual agility.

To remove the partially cut pipe from the cutter, open the jaws and use a rotating motion parallel to the blade .

This is what your pipe will look like when you remove it from the cutter.

I have made a mark on the pipe to guide me as I place the blade to make the long cut. I eyeballed it by looking at the cutter from above to ensure the mark was under the blade, but you could be more precise by extended the mark out to the end of the pipe.

As mentioned in the safety note above, I’m using the cutter for a purpose other than which it was designed. I have a firm grip on the pipe, my fingers are out of the way, and when I squeeze the cutter I am doing so very slowly.

Starting the cut is the only tricky part; the pipe will want to push away from the blade. Use your hand to hold the pipe firmly in place as you start the cut (see above illustration). Once it is started, the cutter will pretty much finish the cut itself, though keeping a bit of pressure on the pipe will make it easier. As you approach your previous cut, proceed very slowly for best results.

You cutter will probably not open wide enough in any case, but don’t be tempted to try both cuts at once. Do one side at a time, slowly and with awareness at all times of where your hand is in relation to the blade.

Here the cut is almost complete. You may wish to open the cutter and adjust the pipe so the blade is closer to perpendicular to the pipe for a neater finish.

The cut is complete. Repeat the process for the other side.

Both cuts are complete. The piece is almost done!

Dry fitted together, all this needs to be complete is some glue (see the top image of this post for a pair of completed cups). Note that this join is a pretty tight fit, so you will probably not be able to smoothly twist it into place. Use enough glue and press it firmly home using pressure on the inside of the saddle and the remaining “entire circle” section of the pipe. The cups will work fine even if they are a few degrees out of “perfect” when the glue sets.

Alternative Designs

You can make permanent jump cups out of “T” connectors. You do so by using a saw to mimic the cuts we made here on the “90 degree” side of the “T”. Cups made this way will use 1″ cross bars, assuming you use 1″ “T” connectors on 1″ uprights.

I’ve seen (on eBay) at least one enterprising person making clip-on cups out of “T” connectors by cutting them down, cutting out enough of the back side to allow them to slip over a section of pipe, and making the cup part. These are undoubtedly handsome, but would be a lot of work for the casual home enthusiast to construct.

Related posts: Bar Jump or Hurdle; Alternatives for Jump Cups.

Look at that smile! This sturdy octagon jumping hoop is simple to make and will take you about two hours to assemble. Material costs will be around $20 per hoop.

The hoop being built here is approximately 24″ in “diameter” and stands about 18″ off the ground at the bottom of the octagon. You can easily vary the diameter by making the individual segments of the octagon shorter or longer, and vary the height by changing the length of the uprights. The hoop itself should be glued, but you could leave the uprights loose if you want to vary the height of the obstacle over time. Be aware that unglued joints are aren’t as steady as glued joints, though.

Tools

You will need a PVC cutting tool, measuring tape, and a Sharpie or similar marking tool. In addition, you will need paper towels for cleaning glue joints.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces, ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of pipe are slightly more than 13 feet in total length, which means you’ll need two 10 foot pieces of pipe to construct one hoop, or three pieces to construct two hoops (in which case you need to double the connectors shown below).

The parts you’ll need (all 1″ diameter pipe and appropriate connectors):

1 45 degree slip connectors (10)
2 “T” slip connectors (4)
3 slip end caps (4)
4 16″ uprights (2)
5 4″ upright-to-hoop pieces (2)
6 9″ octagon sides (6)
7 3-13/16″ pieces for the octagon sides containing the “T” connectors (4)
8 12″ feet (4)

Note: If you vary the length of the octagon sides 6, the short segments 7 should be adjusted to the following formula (which takes into account the extra length of the “T” connectors):

7 = .5 * (length of 6 – 1.375)

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

I built two hoops; the photos are all from the assembly of the first hoop. I was a bit smarter about assembling the second hoop, so look for italicized notes in the text to see what I did differently the second time around.

Here you can see my fancy workbench. The truck’s tailgate is the right height for working and the board will catch any dribbled glue (and there will be plenty of that!). I cut all of the pieces for both hoops ahead of time, which allowed a dry run to keep handy as a reference as I glue up the hoop I’m working on.

Start by gluing the segments 7 to a couple of T-connectors 2.

Next, add the short uprights 5 to the previous assemblies.

Note, on the second hoop I pre-glued a 45 degree connector to each of these pieces 5. This “45″ need to be coplanar with the “T” (see the tips page for how to ensure connectors are in the same plane), so take care when gluing.

Glue 4 octagon sides 6 to two of the 45-degree connectors 1.

Two 45-degree connectors 1 have been added to one of the octagon side assemblies we created earlier. You will need to do this to both assemblies (only one is shown here). Note that the “45″ connectors face away from the “T”.

It is possible that as you glue the hoop together that there will be a slight twist, as keeping the connectors coplanar is difficult when there are so many involved. A bit of twist is OK–while the hoop may not be a museum piece, your pup isn’t going to care! That said, be as careful as you can as you glue up the assembly.

Now we’re getting somewhere! The four sub-assemblies we’ve made thus far have been glued into two larger pieces.

Note: If you have already added the “45″ connectors to the upright supports, be sure you glue these together as mirror images of each other, with the “45″ on the upright support pointing towards the bottom of the photo.

Almost ready to complete the hoop! To get here, you will need to add another “45″ connector 1 to the top of each sub-assembly from the previous step. At that point, take the two remaining octagon sides 6 and glue them to one of the sub-assemblies, top and bottom, as illustrated. This will make joining the two sub-assemblies into a single hoop relatively simple.

Glue the two sub-assemblies together. Most gluing is done by twisting the pipe a bit as it is inserted, to ensure that it gets a good coat of glue and that it seats fully home in the connector. Because we cannot twist these two assemblies as they are glued, ensure you have good glue coverage and that you press the pieces firmly together.

Next we’ll build the uprights. Glue the end caps 3 onto the feet 8.

Glue the four feet to the two remaining “T” connectors 2.

Glue the uprights 4 to the foot assemblies.

Note: Following the smart “italicized notes” method, you already have the “45″ connectors for the long uprights on the main hoop assembly; now glue the long uprights into those “45″ connectors, leaving the feet assemblies unattached at this point.

Glue the two remaining “45″ connectors 1 to the upright assemblies. These need to be perpendicular to the plane of the foot assembly…if they were 90-degree connectors, a pipe sticking out of them should point straight into the air with the foot assemblies laid out as illustrated.

Note: If you’re smart, you’ll have been reading these notes and can ignore this step, as your “45″ connectors will already be attached to the hoop and the uprights are already glued in them.

Finish the obstacle by gluing the uprights to the hoop, one side at a time.

Dry assemble both uprights to the hoop first, ensuring the hoop is vertical and the feet are flat on the table (and parallel with each other). Mark these unglued joints with a sharpie on both sides, so that when you glue the pieces together you can line the marks up. Take your time with this step.

This is where the alternative method described in the italicized notes really shines. In the method shown in the pictures, this is a fiddly step; if you get the glue joint crooked you can make the hoop tilt, or worse, get feet that aren’t even making the hoop unstable.

Note: In the smarter method outlined in these italic notes, at this stage you would be gluing the feet to the uprights, which are already attached to the hoop. The worst that can happen is that the feet point in weird directions and/or they’re not parallel to each other. In other words, it is nearly impossible to make a mistake here that makes the hoop unusable, only one that will make it less pretty, a much better place to be. On the second hoop I built, at this stage I simply turned the hoop upside down and eyeballed the feet into position.

And there it is, our finished octagon jump hoop!

Alternative Designs

There aren’t really too many options with this design. You can alter the size of the hoop and its height, of course, and you can leave the joints on either end of the long upright pieces unglued, which would give you the ability to swap them for longer or shorter pieces as your dog becomes more proficient or older.

You could leave just the hoop end of the long upright unglued, which would allow you to pull the hoop apart and store it flat if your course isn’t permanent. I would consider drilling a hole through both pieces of the unglued joint and putting a small screw in either side, through gravity and friction will keep it together, the screws would make it less annoying to move around the yard.

If your dog is a cheater and tends to go under the hoop, you could add one or more “T” connectors to the uprights on both sides and run cross-pieces across the space under the hoop.

Lower your tire or hoop all the way to the ground. You can’t do this with the hoop jumps described here, but you can make very short supports and have several heights so you can gradually work up to full height. Make it very easy at first.

Get your dog to walk through the hoop, and give your command as the dog goes through, then reward. This is a very good time to use a toy as a reward – you can throw it so your dog will go through the hoop after it. Raise the hoop or tire a little bit at a time, and soon your dog will be going through it at the regular height. Do not reward your dog if he goes under the hoop instead of through. Just say “oops!” and try again.