# Buying an agility teeter



## Augie's Mom

I've been thinking about buying a practice teeter for Augie and saw these.

The price isn't bad compared to the others that I've seen, but I was wondering about the base being made from PVC.

What do you agility pros think? Would this be safe? 

http://www.carlson-agility.com/cont...teeter-totter-plank-with-adjustable-base.html

or a mini teeter

http://www.carlson-agility.com/mini-contact-equipment/mini-teeter.html


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## gabbys mom

I would think that you would need to weight the bottom down- we have metal based ones at our training club and we still use sandbags, just in case. I would definitely use sandbags or something in this case.


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## Maxs Mom

I don't think PVC can safely hold the weight of a golden. It does say "net weight 30 lbs" on the links too. To me it would be not worth the risk to spend the money, sorry. 

My husband made our teeter. It is heavy BUT we can adjust it in height from 8" - 24", and for training our young dog it was AWESOME. When she was a little puppy, we set it at 8" and put bricks under each end so it would only move slightly. She was running across it in no time. Needless to say Teddi today has no teeter fear. 

If you have someone who can build one for you I could take pictures of ours, and send them to you to use as a guide.


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## kgiff

$179 for a PVC teeter? The place I got our teeter base from sells a complete teeter for $200. I know I paid much less for our metal adjustable base than $179 and we bought a board to do on it and used left over paint with sand mixed in to finish it ourselves. 

What do the agility vendors at shows around you sell their equipment for?


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## sammydog

I built a PVC teeter a few years ago. It was not full height, I think 14" high. But did have a 12 foot plank and was pretty steady. I am not particularly handy, but I have found it is pretty easy to build agility equipment... It was a good learning tool, but shortly after I gave this teeter away and bought a "real" full sized metal one (Money well spent!)

I would think the PVC would be safe, but for me I would not want to spend the money for something made of PVC… 

Another thought, check craigslist and your local clubs in case people are getting rid of equipment. I have given away and sold my fair share when "upgrading".

Here is a picture (old) of the teeter I built


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## MurphyTeller

A full height teeter with a base made from PVC is not safe for a medium to large dog unless the dog's performance is very slow and very cautious - not what I'm training for and not a risk I'd ever take. Making one with a shorter board (like the 8' one above) changes the pivot point and the effect of teeter whip. Spend the money on a metal adjustable teeter base (I like Max 200 or affordable agility) and then make your own board (the aluminum board costs a ton to ship). There's more whip with a wood plank but a dog learning to deal with more whip is not a bad thing IMO.

Alternatively is there an upcoming agility trial in your area? Most clubs in the Northeast rent their equipment from one of the manufacturers (We use Max 200 a lot) there's some discount from the vendors when something is purchased from a show - sure, you've got to haul it home - but it'll save you some cash for a slightly used teeter and you'll save on shipping...

Erica


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## katieanddusty

I have a PVC base teeter that is great, but that one doesn't look too good. It doesn't look like it's adjustable like a normal teeter (maybe it can do 12" and 24" or something, but it doesn't look like it can adjust gradually).

I have this one. It bounces a bit with the crazy dog but not the normal dog. And it adjusts in the normal teeter way (with the chain at the bottom). http://www.arfandrunning.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=187587&pageid=54

You definitely shouldn't get a teeter that doesn't have a 12' plank. If the dog already stops at the pivot point then a shorter plank will make him stop earlier, and if you have a nice fast teeter he'll probably go flying off the end of the 8' one a couple times and then never have the same confidence in running all the way to the end of a 12'.


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## Augie's Mom

Thanks everyone for the responses. I wish I was handy enough to build a teeter, I still have from a year ago an uncut 10 foot pvc pipe I bought to build a jump.


Kgiff,
Who has the complete teeter that was $200?

Erica, 
Not sure what you mean by "teeter whip", are you referring to when the board springs back into original position?


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## MurphyTeller

Augie's Mom said:


> Erica,
> Not sure what you mean by "teeter whip", are you referring to when the board springs back into original position?


Teeter Whip is the flexing of the teeter board which happens to some degree regardless of the type of board. On the aluminum planks it's a vibration on some wood planks its visible at the other end - especially if the dog has a stopped teeter contact performance. This is what causes some dogs to bail as soon as the teeter hits - they don't like the vibration under their feet....Not the only reason they bail of course. 

A golden owner I know had her husband build a teeter that didn't have whip (obviously they aren't students of physics because by the nature of a teeter it'll whip to some extent). Anyhow, her dog was afraid of the teeter and she was sure it was due to whip. So he built her this 300lb (seriously it doesn't move) teeter that doesn't have a lot of vibration. Great - her dog can do his teeter in his backyard, but don't ask him to do another teeter anywhere else because when it moves he'll bail and then she has to "retrain" for another month to build confidence on her home teeter...anyway...I like my dogs to feel whip and get used to it. I can't depend on the teeter at a trial to be aluminum with a small amount of flex....For what it's worth, my dogs both learned on a 10" wide warped teeter board and they had to learn where their feet were underneath them. Not everything in life is predictable.

Erica


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## monomer

Here's some pictures from a 4-year old thread... hope it can give you an idea or maybe inspires you to try to make one out of wood. It is VERY sturdy and can be made adjustable by simply drilling more holes in the vertical uprights and then all one need do is unscrew the end-cap of the pipe and after relocating it and screw the end-cap back on.

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showpost.php?p=23052&postcount=9

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showpost.php?p=23685&postcount=21

BTW, total cost shouldn't exceed $50


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## Maxs Mom

MurphyTeller said:


> Teeter Whip is the flexing of the teeter board which happens to some degree regardless of the type of board. On the aluminum planks it's a vibration on some wood planks its visible at the other end - especially if the dog has a stopped teeter contact performance. This is what causes some dogs to bail as soon as the teeter hits - they don't like the vibration under their feet....Not the only reason they bail of course.
> 
> A golden owner I know had her husband build a teeter that didn't have whip (obviously they aren't students of physics because by the nature of a teeter it'll whip to some extent). Anyhow, her dog was afraid of the teeter and she was sure it was due to whip. So he built her this 300lb (seriously it doesn't move) teeter that doesn't have a lot of vibration. Great - her dog can do his teeter in his backyard, but don't ask him to do another teeter anywhere else because when it moves he'll bail and then she has to "retrain" for another month to build confidence on her home teeter...anyway...I like my dogs to feel whip and get used to it. I can't depend on the teeter at a trial to be aluminum with a small amount of flex....For what it's worth, my dogs both learned on a 10" wide warped teeter board and they had to learn where their feet were underneath them. Not everything in life is predictable.
> 
> Erica


My teeter I believe has "whip" however like I said I trained Teddi on it and she got REALLY good at it, in my back yard. The FIRST time she crossed the teeter at class, she was showing off how good she was and that thing went BANG! when it hit the ground. I tried to stop her mid point for the tip. No she knew what she was doing.. She didn't like bang :uhoh: Anyway we "re schooled" her and she got over the noise. She still likes the one in our back yard as it is more cushioned but she is not afraid of the teeter in class.


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## kgiff

Augie's Mom said:


> Kgiff,
> Who has the complete teeter that was $200?


http://madagility.com/Our_Products/See_Saw/index.html

Not sure what part of the country you are in, but see who is supplying equipment at local shows. It's going to be cheaper to pick up equipment than to have it shipped to you.


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## MurphyTeller

Maxs Mom said:


> My teeter I believe has "whip" however like I said I trained Teddi on it and she got REALLY good at it, in my back yard. The FIRST time she crossed the teeter at class, she was showing off how good she was and that thing went BANG! when it hit the ground. I tried to stop her mid point for the tip. No she knew what she was doing.. She didn't like bang :uhoh: Anyway we "re schooled" her and she got over the noise. She still likes the one in our back yard as it is more cushioned but she is not afraid of the teeter in class.


All teeters have some amount of whip. Some are more flexible and thus more whip, others may be heavier or more flexible and have less whip. The footing makes a difference too - hitting a softer surface (grass or turf) produces less whip than a harder surface (matting on concrete, packed dirt, etc). Next time you're at a trial or class pay attention to the "other" end of the teeter. How much the board vibrates is "whip".

Erica


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## MurphyTeller

kgiff said:


> http://madagility.com/Our_Products/See_Saw/index.html
> 
> Not sure what part of the country you are in, but see who is supplying equipment at local shows. It's going to be cheaper to pick up equipment than to have it shipped to you.


My base is a MAD agility base - I bought it at a trial in NH. I then bought a board and painted it. It's a good quality teeter base - solid and stable with good quality hardware.

Erica


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## Augie's Mom

You guys are all so great and such a wealth of information!! You all brought up such great points. I'm so glad I asked. 

Thanks for explaining the "teeter whip", I never even thought about the board vibration. 

Thanks for the tip about a shorter board length, I definitely don't want to train him incorrectly or worse traumatize him on the teeter. 

Monomer,
Thanks for the pictures, you are very creative in your agility equipment design/construction.

I've only attended a few agility trials but none of the vendors there sold any equipment. I can see with the weight of these that freight would be astronomical.


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