DIY: Build Your Own Agility Jumps

*This post contains some affiliate links

For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you probably know that I recently have started taking agility lessons. While being an agility loving Dachshund isn’t a new concept, some might think that due to my short legs and long back that agility might not be the sport for me. But lucky for me, my mom believes that being active and fit are more important to keeping me healthy in the long run than making me sit on the sidelines. Agility might not be for every dog out there, but for me it is one of those things that keeps me motivated to run my little tushie off and keep the middle of my “hot dog” from touching the ground.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

So with my start into the World of agility, mom decided to help me build a set of my very own agility jumps for the back yard. Lucky for you I made sure we documented the entire process so that you too can build your own backyard set!

DIY: Build You Own Agility Jumps

The following step-by-step tutorial will show you how to build two jumps for your dog for about $40 in materials (we did most of our shopping at Lowes).

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

Materials:

  1. Two 10′ pieces of 3/4″ PVC pipe (this will make 4 jump poles)
  2. Three 10′ pieces of 1″ PVC pipe
  3. Eight PVC “T” connectors for 1″ pipe
  4. Twelve PVC end caps for 1″ pipe
  5. Tape measure
  6. PVC pipe cutter (a circular saw or hand saw can be substituted)
  7. Sharpie (or item to mark the pipes with)

*You will also need to either purchase or make your own jump cups for this project. We opted to buy our own jump cups.*

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

It’s also helpful if you have a supervisor for this project on hand – if you do not have one I’m happy to lend my services for a nominal fee, you know where to find me.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

Next you will need to make some cuts in the 1″ PVC pipe. After measuring and marking your cuts with a sharpie, you can use a pipe cutter or a circular saw to make your cuts.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

Cuts to Make on 1″ PVC pipe:

  1. Eight 12″ pieces
  2. Four 1 3/4″ pieces
  3. Two 50″ pieces
  4. Four 30″ pieces

*make sure you are only making your cuts for these out of the 1″ PVC pipe (you will cut the 3/4″ pipe to make the jump poles later)

Next you will start the assembly process – if you prefer to make your jump really secure you can use PVC pipe glue to attach the pieces, but we opted to forgo the glue and just tightly assemble each piece. This way the pieces can be disassembled later or put away for the winter.

Assembly:

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

1. Create the feet of your jump by slipping the 12″ PVC pieces into the top and bottom ends of your “T” connectors. Then add an end cap to each end of the pipe.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

2. Next add the 1 3/4″ PVC pieces to the open end of the “T” connector.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

3. Then add another “T” connector to the ends of your 1 3/4″ pipe, make sure they face in the directions pictured above.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

4. Add the 50″ PVC pieces in-between your two “feet”.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

5. Place your 30″ PVC pieces into the open “T” connector and then add an end cap to the top of each pipe.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

At this point your jumps are nearly complete, but you will need to add jump cups to them. You can purchase a set of jump cups* for $19 for a set of 10 (make sure you purchase the 1″ pipe size). After you have your jump cups you will need to measure the distance between the jump cups to determine how long your jump poles need to be. In our case this was 49 3/8″ wide.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

So out of the 3/4″ PVC pipe you purchased cut 4 pieces at 49 3/8″ (or the measurement you took between the poles after attaching your jump cups).

After making your cuts for your jump poles, you might decide to paint the poles. According to the AKC Agility Rulebook, jump poles must be striped for visibility, so who was I to argue with adding a bit of color!

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

After taping off some stripes on my poles with painters tape and newspaper mom let me choose the color I wanted from the cans of spray paint we had in the basement.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

After a few coats of flashy blue paint, my jump poles were looking mighty fine. (You can also stripe your poles with colored electrical tape).

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

And then after letting them dry overnight, they were finally finished, and they were glorious!

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

Oh and don’t worry, I only jump a 4″ height for practice – but I had mom and dad make me an extra jump rail for when Trooper comes over to practice with me.

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

Putting my new agility jumps to the test was the best part though!

ammo the dachshund diy dog agility jumps

Look at me, I can fly! 

 

I’ve created this handy PDF for you to download that has all the instructions you will need to make your own set of DIY Dog Agility Jumps. Happy Jumping!

 

*These jumps are intended to be used for backyard fun. If you plan to build jumps for competition use make sure you build your jumps to rulebook specifications.

 

Disclaimer: To the best of our knowledge this equipment is entirely safe, however, we are not liable for any damages or injuries you or your dog may sustain from following these instructions. Use your best judgement when building equipment for your dog – and be safe! 

48 thoughts on “DIY: Build Your Own Agility Jumps

  1. Love this new post! Cannot wait to get mamas to build us one! 🙂 Thanks Ammo! ~Weinerful Gang~

  2. Thank you so much for the jump plans! My dad is putting one together this week for me to use in Open class. I’m a big girl, so he has to make this work for me. I spent my first two years running with horses in Montana, so I like jumping.

    Roxy
    ….a Royal Standard Poodle – daughter of Archie the Great, over 70 lbs of poodle fun

    • Oh fun! You’ll have to post photos of your new jumps on my Facebook wall: http://www.facebook.com/ammothedachshund so we can all oooh and ahh over them. And you’re a girl after my own heart getting to run with the horses! I love spending my life on the farm where I get to run with my ponies all the time!

  3. Thanks for all this Ammo. I am a dachshund doing agility too, and my Mum is kitting me out with all the gear, so finds your hints and tips very useful. I also do doggy dancing, and am ace on the skateboard! Fun, isn’t it?

  4. This is fantastic! I had surgery on both my knees a few months ago and I have do some new rehab exercises to get me back to full strength. My mom is using your design to build me a modified jump with one low bar to start. Hopefully I will be catching Frisbees again in no time! Thank you!
    -Abby the Jack Russell

  5. used these plans and I am all set to paint the poles. Did you find that the paint chips easy on the poles?

    • The spray paint does chip some with use. You may want to use colored duct tape to stripe your poles.

  6. Love your jumps, what did you use to hold the 3/4 inch bar? did you cut down a fitting?
    jack

  7. I’m definitely going to try to talk my dad into letting/helping me do this for my Ausie (he LOVES jumping)

  8. Omg! I am 8 and i compete in pony hunter jumpers, i compete all over even made nationals last year and i love to play pretend pony with my friends when I am not competing, my Dad just made these for me in about two hours, painting my rails next weekend, he even made me a tack box to hold them when broken down. If you cut the cross rails at 3″ they are perfect for little human girls and boys to do a horseless horse show!! Ammo you rock!

    Love you ….. Trinity

    PS. Dad says make sure to get a pipe cutter ($15 @ HomeDepot) so easy!!

    • What a great idea Trinity! My mom says she used to play pretend pony when she was younger too! Now she has fun playing dressup and painting with her trick ponies from http://www.paintingpony.com – because when you should never grow up! Have fun playing pretend pony and glad my DIY could help!

  9. can’t wait to try this! I do agility with my sheltie but all i have is crates and pieces of wood! SO trying this this summer!

  10. Love it! Ammo looks so adorable when jumping. This would prefect for my two miniature horses, for my mother and I miniature poodles, as well as my nieces and nephews too. Can’t wait to get started!

  11. My momma just started me out with jumping and I am already jumping 2 1/2 feet high I can’t believe it! The only things that I am having major trouble in is the weave poles and the seesaw! How do I get used to the seesaw? And how do I weave through the poles like a champ? I already asked my momma if she could make this for me and she said yes I can’t wait to try it!

    -Lexi the pitbull

    • The teeter takes practice, yummy cookies helps. And there are lots of methods out there to train weave poles. I used the 2×2 method. If you search “agility” on my blog more articles will pop up.

  12. I used broom wall clips for the pole cups. They are easy to slid up and down, the pole drops when hit but the clips stay on the pole.

  13. Thanks so much for your detailed instructions! I cannot wait to give it a try. Have you tried making the jump with the hoop yet? I bought swim noodles and duct tape for the hoop but haven’t figured out what to do next yet. Let me know if you have! Thanks again!

  14. Excellent post! We were thinking about building our own agility course too in the back yard for my papillon. If we do, your instructions will sure help us out!

  15. Hi admin, i see that http://www.ammothedachshund.com needs fresh content. Daily updates will rank your website in google higher, content is king nowadays. If you are to lazy to write unique posts everyday you should search in google for:
    Ightsero’s Essential Tool

  16. thanks for the idea. I built this for my Poxer mix Zane today. We’re waiting on the jump cups to arrive to try it out. I’m curious as to if you used caps on the end of the jump poles? Will it affect the way they sit in the caps?

    • I did not use caps on the ends of the jump poles and I assume it would affect the way they sit if you did. Hope that helps!

  17. I needed jump cups today so I made my own from standard saddle fittings from Lowe’s. My Dremel made it easy to grind off the rough spots after making two cuts with a hacksaw. Pics available.

    • While I appreciate the enthusiasm of your comments, some of our readers (and me too) are starting to see some of them as spam. The over abundance of them, and the replies to other reader’s comments appear to others that you are trying to gain page likes for your own page. So if you wouldn’t mind being more thoughtful of how you are commenting it would be appreciated. I have received some complaints and I wouldn’t want to have to block anyone from my friendly space here on Facebook. Thanks!

    • It’s been several years since we built this, but I’m pretty sure it was because the jump cups we used fit the 1″ PVC.

  18. Hey, I have really enjoyed your blog! I going to buld some and was wondering if you can give me the link to the PVC pieces? That would be awesome! Thanks for your blog and have a great day!
    From,
    Caroline

  19. Hey! I was just wondering if we could make the jump cups. How do I do that? Mom says that she will make these for me! I am so excited because I love to jump!!!

  20. Thanks for the good pics and step by step info. I am not clear about how the jump cups work. Where do the jump cups go? How do they attach? What do they look like? I don’t see a picture or info about how to add these. Thanks for other steps though.
    Kate
    (Jetta & Moka’s mom. They say We can’t wait to start jumping!)

  21. This is PERFECT for all of my animals (well, except the mouse and fish). I am going to make these for my border collies, rabbits, and maybe even get my cavies to jump a little! My dogs will love this! I’m so glad I found this!

  22. Can the verticals be shorter? For a Welsh Cardi so the horizontals will be kept low. Mostly for fun and entertainment. No agility groups where we are.The closest is 100+miles/200km away.

Comments are closed.