# Agility seesaw ????



## goldenca (Jan 31, 2011)

My 4-year old golden has only been in AKC Jumpers w/Weaves...(she is up to the Excellent class) but
she has never done the contact side where there are teeters/seesaws.

She can do everything, except the seesaw and closed tunnel. I tried building a pvc teeter base with an 8 ft board...but she knows the difference between a "real competition one" and mine. (She won't go on mine.)

In agility lessons, she gladly offers to go up (about half way) on a real seesaw but then either jumps off, or I lure her with food as the board gets tipped down slowly. (sometimes she will lay down and creep down the board if someone else lowers it slowly, but she has NEVER tipped the board herself.)

We have practiced on a home-made wobble board...so she is fine with movement. (I think)

She used to do the teeter as a puppy but somehow got scared and I have been trying to fix her "fear" for quite a while. We are now progressing ...but I don't think she gets it -about the pivot point AND I don't want it to take her forever to get the teeter. It has already been 3 years trying.

Would getting a competition-type teeter that has adjustable heights and working everyday for a few minutes be a big benefit??? 

What company has a good teeter? (alum. plank with wet pour rubber) I am looking at the ones from Mark's Agility Equipment and Affordable Agility....but they cost a ton to ship to California. Where can you find used ones? I've already looked on Craigslist.

Any advice?


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I like Marks equipment he's real close to home too....

A good solid teeter is a good idea but in my dogs training I see a lot back off from the noise. We have a teeter in our back yard, dogs do it fine but the first time it bangs on solid surface whoa Nellie. I transition it. First I put the down side of the teeter on a chair back so the board only rests a few inches from the ground. I say my target command so my dog hopes on when it bangs, I treat. As the confidence grows I increase the inches from the ground but using the chair back, I don't exceed a foot. Once they are comfortable here I ask for a full teeter. Our back yard one is adjustable so it's not high. Where I trained my dogs as pups on a solid surface theirs was adjustable too. I also put a folded towel under the bang end to diffuse the noise. Once my dogs were confident and full height I took away the towel. They never seemed to notice. 

Goldens are notorious for teeter issues. Go way WAY back and re train for confidence. Go slowly. My girl is over confident and she once raced a teeter instead of turning away like I wanted (she was very early in her career) she FLEW off when it hit and I could not get her back on that day. Fortunately she would mount the one in my back yard and I did a lot of cookies. I was lucky she came back in just a couple weeks but she is an over confident type. Teeters are scary. Go slow. 

Good Luck


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Don't be afraid to give her a big jackpot of treats when she goes all the way across and then tips the teeter down. Be ridiculous with it, lots of praise and over load on treats. It's ok to put a trail of treats down the board.


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## ellisda1 (Jul 24, 2013)

From your description, it sounds like she's afraid of the tip, not the bang. If so I agree with Maxs Mom - back way off - and use the adjustable teeter. If you can get her to walk the teeter when it's flat, you should be able to increase the tilt by a couple of inches and she won't notice it. Lots of reps, lots of treats, tiny increases in height is the way to go. I'm lucky - Luna is very bold, and loud bangs don't upset She learned the teeter in a couple of attempts and I have to make sure she slows down a bit when she enters/leaves the teeter.


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## goldenca (Jan 31, 2011)

ellisda1 said:


> From your description, it sounds like she's afraid of the tip, not the bang. If so I agree with Maxs Mom - back way off - and use the adjustable teeter. If you can get her to walk the teeter when it's flat, you should be able to increase the tilt by a couple of inches and she won't notice it. Lots of reps, lots of treats, tiny increases in height is the way to go. I'm lucky - Luna is very bold, and loud bangs don't upset She learned the teeter in a couple of attempts and I have to make sure she slows down a bit when she enters/leaves the teeter.


YES! I think she is afraid of the tip. We will try to get hold of an adjustable teeter and start working. She is too smart, she knows what she is supposed to do, but still is hesitant to do the teeter all by herself.


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## goldenca (Jan 31, 2011)

Someone from my agility group asked if my homemade plank was 2 inches thick.....it is only 1 inch......I think that is why she won't go up my home made teeter board....it has too much flex in it.

I am off to Home Depot to get her the proper size board and work on the teeter. We will see if it makes a difference.

How many people here competing in agility have a "competition teeter" (one that they purchased)?


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## goldy1 (Aug 5, 2012)

goldenca said:


> Someone from my agility group asked if my homemade plank was 2 inches thick.....it is only 1 inch......I think that is why she won't go up my home made teeter board....it has too much flex in it.
> 
> I am off to Home Depot to get her the proper size board and work on the teeter. We will see if it makes a difference.
> 
> How many people here competing in agility have a "competition teeter" (one that they purchased)?


We never bought a teeter for home practice but Chance - like so many Goldens - was hesitant to complete the entire teeter for a long time. You could see he wanted to do it but in his case, didn't like the bang. Eventually, he did it himself - with the bang - got LOADED with his favorite treats and the problem was solved. After that, he LOVED the teeter when he associated the bang with the treats. Boy did we celebrate!


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## ellisda1 (Jul 24, 2013)

I'd be really surprised if the "flex" was the issue. Our current agility facility holds competitions for both AKC and UKC, and has a variety of novel obstacles. One is a "swaying bridge" - six or eight feet long, short 2x4 cross pieces, suspended by chains. Luna was a little leery of the bridge at first, but after the first crossing had no problems. They also had a chain-suspended swaying square table - about 4 ft square. Again, one bit of hesitation then no problems. You should be able to suspend your current 1" board on a couple of 2x4s so that it flexes downward to the ground. With treats placed every couple of feet, your girl should adjust to the little bit of flex in no time (and that would give her more confidence if she does run into unstable obstacles in the future). There should be flex in the regular A-frame, and even the long raised dog walk has some flex in it - if she does those, I'd be surprised if "flex" is the issue. She's probably paired up your plank with the feared teeter and now both have the same negative association. Extinguishing the negative association will be much harder than learning it...


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