AGILITY: Teeter Totter question

[Mojave's Mom]

Mojave is pretty much ready to start showing in fun matches at least, except for the teeter totter.

A while back (about 6 months or so) he went up the teeter totter so quickly that he bounced off of it and flew a few feet into the air. Needless to say he didn't want anything else to do with the teeter....and the A-frame... and the dogwalk, for awhile I got some VERY good advice from someone here on the board after this happened, and we followed it to the T. We ignored the teeter for a few months, completely. With work he got back onto the A-frame and dog walk with no problems. During one class he ignored my call for a turn into the tunnel and instead took the teeter (thinking it was the dogwalk i'm sure) and tossed himself off again. Well that put us back once again. :( We went back to ignoring the teeter all together. It's been three months or so since he's been on it.

We've built up his confidence once again and he loves running the course with me and I feel he's ready to try that teeter again. He shows a lot of interest in it, when we're walking off the course and we walk past the teeter he stops to smell it and has even put a paw on the other end....I am still hesitant about putting him back on it and not sure how to go about it with two stupid mistakes under our belt already.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!!

[Elijah's Mom]

Hi Mojave's Mom! Last year there was a Golden Retriever in our agility class that had an incident with the teeter totter and was also afraid of it after that. It took alot of work but she finally overcame the fear. Every week, before and after class, two of us would go over and help the Retriever and her owner. The handler would walk her Retriever up to the obstacle and hold an irrisistable treat out in front of her...we would stand by the other end of the teeter totter and as the dog started walking up it we would help balance the teeter totter and help it down as the dog walked down our side. This way the teeter totter didn't hit the ground hard...a very gentle ride for the Retriever. After several weeks of this the dog was doing very well on the obstacle. Hope this helps you!:)

[DNeff]

There are several ways to work through teeter issues. The first thing you may want to do is get a 12" wide 12' long board and set a piece of wood in the middle of it. This creates a very low mini teeter. Work on having your dog go to the pivot point, pause briefly to pivot the teeter and then move to the end of the teeter and stop on the contact. I use a verbal command of "easy" as he starts the teeter to remind him to pause at the pivot, then I use a "bottom" command to teach him to go to the bottom and wait for me. I treat at both the pivot and the bottom while training or re-training the teeter. Make sure to use really good treats. Work on the dog confidently getting on, pausing and moving to the bottom before you advance. This is great to practice every night using the dinner bowl as the reward for a good performance.
Next thing you need to do is find an adjustable teeter or make a adjustable teeter. You want to start with the board at the lowest level and gradually as the dog is more and more confident the board is raised. Once you are getting the dog confidently across with the teeter about half way up to full height you switch gears a bit.
At this point you put a 24" pause table with a blanket on part of it. You set the table under the "up" end of the teeter (teeter is now at full height). As the dog starts up the teeter and gets to the pivot point the table will stop the teeter from going all the way to the ground. The blanket muffles any loud noise the teeter might make in hitting the table. The idea behind this technique is that the teeter does not drop nearly as far and it is much less scary for the dog at the full height. Gradually as the dog is moving confidently up the teeter, pausing at the pivot and stopping at the bottom you begin to lower the table beneath the teeter, so that the teeter begins to drop more as the dog gets on. This helps the dog learn how to manipulate the teeter himself and yet keeps it from being too scary.
Finally after the dog is being very successful at this, you remove the table all together. The key is go slow! and use tons of motivational praise, play and treats!
You need to be careful you don't accidently teach the dog to move slowly up on to the teeter, you want a steady pace on to it and then a pause at the pivot. There is a difference and make sure you are aware of which you are reinforcing. You can actually train your dog to be tentative on the up of the teeter if you are not careful.
During all of this always treat at the pivot and at the bottom.

Let me know if any of this is unclear or you need more info.

Good Luck!
Dawn
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