I don't like the teeter (:
He was fine with the introductory teeter, went on it with enthusiasm, but second time on the big teeter it slammed loudly and now we have coax him with treats and push his bum and lower the teeter gently. He enjoys all other parts of agility, just need to get him over his fear of the teeter. I expect I will be making my own teeter over the summer to practice, any tips to get over his fear would be appreciated. |
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| It does happen. And dogs that are sound sensitive are bothered the most. That bang convinces them that it's no good and evil! Rehabbing it involves lots of things. Having him do it, and showing him that it really is safe. Lots of praise and treats. Make the teeter be the most rewarded thing around. Have a pad under it, to minimize the loudness, then work back up to a louder sound as he gains confidence. Go back to basics, and go through the steps of learning. Mine is outside, but I laid a board under it so I got more sound when Chewie was learning. So often dogs who are used to it on grass or dirt are surprised when they encounter a loud one indoors. I swear the loudest one I ever ran on was the one in Rochester NY where we had our National specialty in 2010. It was deafening! |
He s a bit sound sensitive, on our last run we were running fast, he came out of the tunnel and got a fright because of my stomping feet  |
| The trainer we use had us give treats whenever the teeter banged, even when we were on the sidelines watching. That way Benson would always associate the loud noise with something positive. We're also lucky that she's not particularly noise sensitive. |
| More thoughts here.... If you can be in the vicinity when other dogs are using the teeter. Pick a spot as far from the teeter as you can, and do stuff he knows - even if it's just playing, or simple obedience drills with movement and he needs to be attentive to you. You want your start point to be where he shows no or very little reaction when the teeter bangs. Keep him busy - and if he's OK, move a bit closer. If he starts to worry, or be more attentive to what the teeter is doing than to you - you went a bit too close - and adjust. Working this over time will help convince him that it's no big deal. Another one to try is sort of like a game. Anytime another dog does the teeter, have him look - and then be excited! Baby talk and point - "wow, look at that dog..Fun teeter!" and be a cheer leader! Use this for other noisy or potentially scary stuff too. An example - at The Paw where I teach, they were installing a new room divider in the training center. The owner was painting the frame - on a big scissors lift with diesel motor. He started it up in the center of the room, with our dogs nearby. So I got all excited, pointed and saying how fun this new thing was, bouncing around and getting them excited about it. Worked great!  They believed me, and then they were cool with it. It was noisy and smelly, but because I was really excited about it, they were too. |
| I will try the treating lots every time the teeter bangs and showing enthusiasm. I am a fan of the excited cheer leader thing, I do that with both dogs when we are out and about if they ever look concerned about things, try not to make things a big deal but fun. Montys issue is noise because he does not like me hula hooping in the house when I drop the hoop it makes a clattering noise. He walks away when he sees me using it, but he can't do this with the teeter. The agility instructor I will have next week lets the dog work it out for himself, putting treats further ahead on the teeter and waiting for Monty to make the decision to go ahead and not talk to him. Accept we are on it all day because he won't move ahead, also I don't like the no talking it stresses me out because I am not patient at waiting and I don't like holding up the class. The other instructor does the talking and pushing bum, unfortunately neither method really works. I am looking into making a teeter, I am sure we can get over this. |
The class I was in introduced teeter without the dog being involved.  The handler stayed with their dog quite a distance from the teeter while the trainer made it bang on the ground. We observed the dog's reaction while treating with the bang. If on the first bang the dog reacted nervously the dog and handler moved away. If the dog was fine the dog and handler moved closer. |
| It might not be "Just" the bang. It might be the movement. With Simon it was the movement.Took a LONG time and several trainers to get him over that...mostly. Started with just the board on the ground. When he got used to that, we moved to a VERY low rise...just a few inches. Lots of excitement, treats, and praise and he soon got used to the high one...mostly. At times he decides he just doesn't want to do it. Drives me bonkers. Why do I do this? He seems to enjoy it...mostly. |
| Thanks for all the tips. I emailed my father in law last night to see if he could make a teeter, I found the instructions on the following website: http://www.wikihow.com/Build-an-Adjustable-Dog-Agility-Seesaw I got a phone call this morning to say he had made it and it just needed panting. What a great father in law, he is very handy and I think enjoys the challenge but wow I didn't think he would have made it so quick. So now we can practice at the weekend and hopefully on Monday he will be more confident. It is adjustable to different height so we will start on the lowest. |
| What an awesome FIL!! That was so nice he would build it for you. It should work just fine for practicing. I have a teeter that I made from Affordable Agility - the PVC came precut and I just needed to assemble it and add my own board. It has held up great for I think 4 years now...love it and having your own teeter is really beneficial. I found a couple pictures from my yard that have the teeter -   I have several items from them - the jumps, practice tire, weaves. We made the dog walk and little A-frame ramp/dogwalk, table, and chute. http://www.affordableagility.com |
| Lovely, Wish we had a garden that big, we have room for a teeter and may be a jump or two |
MontyQs wrote: Lovely, Wish we had a garden that big, we have room for a teeter and may be a jump or two That would be sad!  So I suppose you don't want to hear that this is just our side yard, with our pond and fruit trees. eh?  If you look at the website, the jumps I got would be good for you. They come as a 4 pack, and come apart and have a tote bag. Many friends with small or sloping yards use portable sets and go to parks, etc to practice jump drills. |
| Tried Monty out on the Teeter quite a few times, he still doesn't want to move on the lower setting had to manually step his feet gently. Buster charged on it for treats, he would run through fire, jump off cliffs to get to treats  It's snowing and cold now so will try again tomorrow. We will see if we can get over the teeter issue, if so I could get other agility equipment and set it up in the park behind our house. You can see a sliver of it behind Buster:  |
| Don't be afraid to use Buster's enthusiasm to get Monty convinced this is fun. Seeing another dog all hyped up and loving it is even more convincing than us humans as cheerleaders! |
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