Laurelin Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Does anyone have some good resources or suggestions? I've never dealt with teeter issues before. Background: We have started Hank with wobble boards and tippy plank type stuff and that went just fine. He did the bang game from the side of the teeter fine. It wasn't till this week that we have realized that he is somewhat nervous about the teeter. We were asking for contact behaviors at the end of the teeter (with it dropping just a few inches). He will bang it down then jump off as fast as possible. At first we thought he was just wild but after some time realized he is not wanting to stay put on the teeter. I think he is mildly unsure but it may be lack of understanding criteria and thinking he should just jump and bang it down. Generally he is a very fearless dog who flings himself at everything. So I am not sure where to go from here. I think I will have to build or buy something to work on outside of classes. I just want to go at a very slow pace and make things fun for him. Do you think I can get by with a smaller teeter? The full size ones are super expensive! Right now the only 'contact obstacle' I have is a contact training plank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 OK, so he is used to movement under his feet. Do you think the sound of the teeter is different? I know some dogs get freaked out when the teeter bangs down on a hard surface (very loud) when they have been used to training on grass. If so, put a folded up towel under where the teeter will make contact - which will reduce the bounce and the noise. What do you mean by tippy plank? How long is your contact plank? No, I wouldn't want to use a smaller teeter. I think it is a totally different feel to the dog, then you would have to spend time re-training him to a big teeter. How about buying a 12' long plank? The plank should be the width of a regulation teeter and should be 1.5 inches thick (although the lumber designation is 2".) And it will be HEAVY and hard to transport. You will need a pick-up. I have one and painted it with a dark color (I used purple instead of blue ) and a yellow contact zone. And also sprinkled sand on it when the paint was wet to give it some grip. It should be as close to a regulation teeter surface as possible. Then buy several different diameters of PVC pipe and starting with a small diameter, put it under the mid-point and train Hank over it until he is ready to go up to the next diameter. Or, if you know someone with an adjustable teeter, you could work with it very close to the ground and gradually raise it. I think that the step you are asking Hank to do (from a contact plank and the bang it game) may just be too big of a step for HIM (not for all dogs). Try and break it down into smaller steps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 We built a full size seesaw from wood, but we designed it to be adjustable in 2" increments. Rievaulx was really nervous of the seesaw at training, even using tables at each end etc he just hated the movement, like Hank nothing else had fazed him. The first session I just let him run over it, let him realize he could control the pivot with his motion. Once he was comfortable at the lowest point we moved it up, I thought it would be a slow process to get it to full height but he surprised me, once it was about 10" he was completly confident as he had learned that he had control and I was able to move it to full height very quickly, and we have not looked back. I think I only used the homemade seesaw for a couple of weeks, but the end result was well worth the carpentry time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted March 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 My contact plank is 4'. This is what I mean by a tippy plank: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1705&ParentCat=336 Basically just used it and the wobble board to get him used to movement under his feet. My problem is I am the least handy person on the planet so the idea of building a teeter is pretty intimidating but on the other hand the cheapest full size regulation teeters I found came out over $700 once you added in shipping. I don't think it's the noise with him. I think it is the movement and him not wanting to stand on the movement. Maybe I can build something out of PVC though. I don't have a pickup but I know people that do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 I went to the tippy plank link. It is small, but I see that they are using the PVC pivot point as I suggested above. It does sound like Hank needs to work on full-size equipment. It is totally different than the little mini-me equipment, and Hank knows it. Once the full-size teeter board is modified to be closer to the ground - whichever method you decide to use - I think Hank will get the idea. It worked for both alligande and myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmadrid Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 I went through some serious teeter issues not once, but twice, with Penny (no clue what started the second round of fear...it was sudden and strange). Anyway, what worked for us was going through the Sizzling Seesaws exercises, lots of play, and sardines. Lots of sardines. Sizzling Seesaws is especially nice if you don't have access to an adjustable teeter.... You use different height tables to adjust the amount of drop the dogs experience. I also bought some inflatable balance discs and trained with those to help make being on unstable surfaces more fun. That definitely helped. Bonus: improved core strength! Most important for us: I kept teeter sessions really short and REALLY upbeat. We would start with some intense tugging, and I'd throw in asking for teeters randomly. If she didn't get it, or jumped off, or shied away, it didn't matter. I kept my energy UP and I kept playing. It was important to my mindset to remember that I was 'asking' for a teeter performance, not demanding it. If she didn't give me one, that was fine. We were still going to play, and I wasn't going to fuss. I think it took a lot of pressureOff of her. I was out of breath at the end of every session, and she loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpin Boots Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Renoir had pretty major teeter fears. We ended up lowering the teeter, putting a table under one end and securing it so it had no motion to begin with and just had him run down the plank. We then very slowly changed the height so that the end he was running down to came off the ground a tiny bit, like an inch. Started by him just hopping on the end and getting into end position then back chained him to the table so he was running the length again and pushing the board down. We continued this fashion, changing the height by very small incriments often. I do have my own teeter, PVC base, it's not full height, only about 1/2, although the board is full length. Once he was confident on my teeter at full height he had little issue transferring that to a regulation one. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Cressa Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I have heard really good reviews about sizzling seesaws with dog who have teeter issues. Some dogs just don't like the vibration that happen when full heights teeters slam down... if you only have worked smaller teeter or wooden teeter, ik most trial only have aluminum teeters now. If you had different type of teeter that could have been the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Wolf Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 I've helped a good friend with teeter problems in 2 of her dogs. the first, a loud banging teeter was the trigger. Solution, counter condition for the bang. The 2nd was more complex-a toy dog that got hit in the butt by a teeter plus a fear he had of elevation/movement. This one took much longer to diagnose (the elevation fear) and longer to teach him to love the teeter-he would hang onto the end of it and ride it down, quite cute. figure out which part he dislikes and then think of the best way to make a pleasant association with the (or those) things which scare him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmbc Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Good suggestions from everyone. There are a four components to a teeter that a dog needs to be comfortable with: the movement, the noise, the narrow plank and the height. I did a wonderful contacts course by Susan Garrett that started by workimg each of these components separately so you can really isolate where problems are and really work to get a dog comfortable with all three pieces. Then she started to combine them slowly. I've struggled a lot with the teeter with my oldest dog and working each piece separate helped a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 May I ask, dsmbc, how you isolated the movement part? Bandit absolutely adores the noise. But he's not crazy about the movement. It think I need to work on that with him away from the teeter. I'd love ideas (beyond/in addition to wobble board). If you can't give away class secrets, maybe a suggestion of something similar to what you did for that part? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogrsqr Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 Is it possible that he just doesn't like how it feels to have his body hit the ground on the end of the teeter? I know that this is the most popular method for saving time on a course, but maybe try having him pause at the tip point until the teeter hits the ground and then release him to the bottom. If you can work thru it and get him some confidence you might be able to go back to running to the end of the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted May 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 We are working on him stopping at the tipping point. I think it's a combination of unclear criteria for him and also he is a bit nervous and afraid of the drop and the noise. We have been moving very slowly. The other dogs in the class are doing a full teeter and I am scaled back a lot with Hank. Lots of bang game and also playing with the baby teeter. Last week at our private lesson he was freely going up and down the baby teeter and racing back to it once released so he could do it again and again. My trainer and I both think once he is comfortable with it it won't be a long standing issue. I just don't want to move too fast so we're working on it very very slowly. I am building a teeter for home use as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borasaurus Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 I can empathize with you on the teeter issues. Kieran is the exact same way right now. I also think Kieran just doesn't understand what is being asked of him and that once he gets used to it, he won't have any problems. He was actually doing really well in our class a couple weeks ago, but then last week for some reason the trainer lowered the teeter, which confused him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted May 8, 2015 Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 With a friend's dog last week, who is uncomfortable on the seesaw. I set the seesaw at its lowest height (it is a commercial aluminum one with three heights) put the table at the start end to restrict its drop, and at the other end a stack of tunnel bags. The tunnel bags gave us a really nice soft landing rather than the hard thunk you get coming down on another table (plus we only have one table) both the border collie and his Mallinois brother seemed to get more comfortable after just a few attempts, and I really think it was just because it was a soft landing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted May 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 We had an interesting incident with a bang noise on a bridge yesterday. There was a loose board and when I stepped on it, it moved and banged under him. He tried to bolt but was leashed. Then he was shut down and spooky the rest of the walk. When he had to go back over it on the way back I pumped him up and had him run across. He flattened himself down and was visibly unsure but the running did work better. He ended happy and taking a treat and having a party. So yeah... it seems like noise and movement is a big issue for him in general. Most the time he's a happy confident guy though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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