Agility Question. Re: teeter

Laurelin

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#1
My instructor was talking about why we hadn't gone on to the dogwalk or a-frame yet even though we're four sets of classes in for Mia's group. She was saying she likes to really slowly introduce the teeter and build it up well and then move on to the dogwalk and a-frame. She said she thought dogs do better that way because it's easier to get them used to the moving obstacle then the stationary one and it doesn't spook them going from the stationary one to one that moves and makes sound.

My past instructors would teach dogwalk as one of the first obstacles and the teeter would come much later.

Do you guys find much difference in the order in which you teach the dogs these obstacles?
 

MericoX

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#2
We've always done dogwalk and aframe before teeter. I've found them to be more confident on the teeter getting up and on it due to it being similar in shape to the dogwalk.
 

Shai

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#3
Not really. I think depends more on how you go about introducing them than the order in which you do so, but that may vary by dog.

Then again nowadays I introduce contacts long before they even see a teeter, DW, or A-frame so that may make a difference too.
 

Laurelin

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#4
Yeah we did contacts first then wobble board. Then short teeter. Today started the full teeter but still no dog walk.

It kind of made sense to me that the dog's point of view the teeter and the dog walk would look very much the same.
 

Shai

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#5
Yeah I've seen people who train the DW a lot then send their dog up the teeter and it moves unexpectedly and the dog's DW breaks down too because they don't trust anything that looks like that.

But if that's how a person is introing the teeter, they are bound to have issues.
 

MafiaPrincess

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#6
When Smudge took lessons, the place we'd gone had no chute, no dw. He ended up with an off and on dw issue where he'd no warning bale mid walk..

My guys both learned contact behaviours with an aframe before anything else.. but got to touching a teeter early on so they could play games like banging near them got cookies.. then bouncing it under their paws.. For Cider's phenomenal surf she needed to have a teeter early on so we could spend a super long time taking baby steps. Learning it late might cut short the learning time for the behaviour you want.
 

Aleron

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#7
Yeah I've seen people who train the DW a lot then send their dog up the teeter and it moves unexpectedly and the dog's DW breaks down too because they don't trust anything that looks like that.

But if that's how a person is introing the teeter, they are bound to have issues.
I see this happen a lot around here - DW related teeter issues. And it's coming from mostly the same classes. They introduce the DW and teeter at about the same time but doesn't spend any time on doing contact foundation stuff, like getting the dog totally confident with the DW rather then just getting the dog over the DW. Same with the teeter, the focus is entirely on just getting the dog to do a progressively taller teeter. The dogs never have value built in for anything but getting over, never learn they can jump on and off of things (are usually prevented from jumping off), etc. And they develop a teeter fear, which quickly turns into a DW fear.

I don't see anything wrong with working on the contacts at the same time but appropriate levels. Teeter bang game, Dw/Aframe jungle gym stuff, sending over a plank, etc. Everyone has there own ideas though and as long as the teeter progress isn't too fast and the dogs aren't getting scared, there's nothing really wrong with teaching the teeter first.
 

SaraB

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#8
Yeah I've seen people who train the DW a lot then send their dog up the teeter and it moves unexpectedly and the dog's DW breaks down too because they don't trust anything that looks like that.

But if that's how a person is introing the teeter, they are bound to have issues.
This. I totally agree to that it's how you teach them rather than what order you do it in. However, if your instructor has been successful this way, no reason to doubt her!
 

Kilter

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#9
I teach the DW the first week as far as contacts go, then the next week start with the teeter on a table. So they start out learning the DW is a down ramp that's on the ground, and the teeter is a flat plank that will hit the ground. We don't do a teeter contact until the dogs are running the teeter - if they want to go back and compete, there's lots of time to change the rules a bit on the teeter if need be, but at least by that point they're not stressed about it.

I find that if there's too much stress on getting the contact with the teeter from the start, the dogs go slower and worry more. I'd rather they feel it start to tip and keep moving - had a few teeter issue dogs in the past, nothing like running a course and having a break while the dog stands on the teeter deciding if she's going to tip it or not....
 

CaliTerp07

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#10
We teach dog walk before teeter. The dog walk starts low (resting on buckets), the gets moved a little higher in agility 2 (onto saw horses) and then finally to full height in agility 3.

The teeter is introduced as wobble boards for 4-5 weeks, and then to a nearly flat teeter (week 6-7) that wobbles even less than the boards did. We gradually inch it up in level 2, even then holding the board and slowing down the lowering as necessary. It only moves upward when the dog has no hesitation about crossing the pivot point. If they rock back at all, it gets easier. Hopping on/off is fine.

No real dog walk issues in class. Typical teeter phobia, but it's easily worked through with repetition and patience.
 

Laurelin

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#11
This. I totally agree to that it's how you teach them rather than what order you do it in. However, if your instructor has been successful this way, no reason to doubt her!
Oh I don't doubt her at all. I'm a lot more confident in her training than my past instructors, that's for sure. If anything, I think we move very slow compared to other training schools but I am impressed with how solid all the dogs in the class have gotten that fast. It will feel like we are doing little grunt work with little impact on agility as a whole then she'll string some things together and all the dogs do very impressively.

Very different from the old class where we spent the first day leading our dogs over obstacles on leashes.

Oh we are doing jungle gym stuff too. And contact foundations. I always forget that that is technically dogwalk work.

So far on teeter work, we did wobble boards then the bang game with the small, then the entire small teeter, then we started the bang game with the large. Of course Mia has already seen these obstacles and she keeps asking me why we're not going over the whole thing already.
 

crysania

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#12
It kind of made sense to me that the dog's point of view the teeter and the dog walk would look very much the same.
I think they definitely do! We did a lot more with the dog walk and A-Frame early on and then started with the teeter. We first shaped end behavior (2on/2off) on the dog walk and A-Frame, then did some teeter bang games and 2on/2off on there.

Because Dahlia was confidently running the dog walk by the time we got to running the full teeter she very much confuses the two. Which means that on occasion she runs full tilt up the teeter and doesn't drop it until she gets to the very end. She ends up scrambling around or flying off at that point.

Once she realizes it's the teeter, she does it brilliantly. But that won't help much in trials when she has to do it right the first time!

This is something I need to figure out how to work on.
 

crysania

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#13
Oh I don't doubt her at all. I'm a lot more confident in her training than my past instructors, that's for sure. If anything, I think we move very slow compared to other training schools but I am impressed with how solid all the dogs in the class have gotten that fast. It will feel like we are doing little grunt work with little impact on agility as a whole then she'll string some things together and all the dogs do very impressively.

Very different from the old class where we spent the first day leading our dogs over obstacles on leashes.
This sounds like our class! We were taking at least a few classes before we even got to jumps or anything. We never led any of the dogs over anything on leashes and everything was introduced slowly. But boy when you get out there the dogs have learned a lot of confidence and the handlers have learned how to get into decent position for various queues.

I remember feeling a little frustrated that we weren't just DOING it but now that we ARE doing it (we've been training for 2 years, started trials last November), I feel so happy we learned the way we did.
 

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