Clean Run Magazine - December 2007 - 64

Previous Treatments Finnigan’s owner reports that she received a “huge, wide variety of advice.” Some of the solutions she has tried include: • Clicking and treating for Finnigan’s coming into the yard close to the teeter. • Clicking and treating for Finnigan’s moving closer and closer to the teeter. • Dropping an adjustable teeter as low as it would go. • Reinforcing Finnigan for standing in the contact zone on a low teeter. • Luring Finnigan into a “straight, squared approach and a stand in the yellow contact.” • Changed the contact behavior criteria from a two-on/two-off to stopping in the yellow and riding it down. it. This can be accomplished by using a restrained recall. Have one person hold him a few feet from one end of the board and the other call him across it. Use really good treats to encourage speed. Or, if Finnigan enjoys toys and play, toss a toy for him to chase as he comes off the board, then play tug for a minute with him. At first, allow him to run all the way off the board to get his reinforcer. You want to counteract the idea that he should get to the middle of the board and stop, or creep to the pivot point. The new teeter behavior is to run the board. Diagnosis Based on his owner’s description of his early reaction to the teeter, Finnigan has never truly felt comfortable on it. Trying to patch up a basically flawed understanding of teeter performance is unlikely to work in this case. Finnigan needs to start with a clean slate. In addition, Finnigan’s tendency to become overstimulated means that he will likely perform much more poorly in stressful and exciting settings (such as trials). Finnigan to eagerly approach all sorts of strange objects. Once he is approaching and interacting with stable objects comfortably it is time to introduce objects that move slightly under his feet. Our newest favorite is a BOSU Balance Trainer. The BOSU looks like half an exercise ball, with a flat surface on the bottom and a rounded top that I’ll refer to as the ball. I have been shaping my dogs to approach the ball, put their front feet on the ball, jump up on the ball with all four feet, turn in a circle on the ball, jump over the ball, and so on. There is a very slight instability on the surface of the ball that causes the dogs to adjust their weight to stay on it. Also, shape Finnigan to interact with a skateboard, but begin on carpet so that the rolling is reduced. Work up to having him interact with the skateboard on smoother surfaces. In all your shaping exercises, work in very short sessions with a very high rate of reinforcement. Finnigan’s teeter performance needs to be retrained from the ground up (literally). In the end, this will be much more successful than trying to fix the behavior he already has. Start with the teeter board flat on the ground and teach Finnigan to run across Recommendations To help Finnigan deal with his excitability in classes and during training, I would recommend that his owner enroll him in Rally obedience classes. Typically, the environment in obedience classes is less hectic and frantic than in agility classes. Finnigan needs to discover that he can remain calm and thoughtful while in a setting with a group of dogs. Practicing the precise and controlled exercises in this type of class would be very good for Finnigan. I would also recommend that Finnigan’s owner stop all work on the teeter for a few weeks to a month. Instead, she should work on shaping interaction with a variety of objects. (Refer to the CR 2006 series “Shape Up Your Training Program” for details on how to shape.) In particular, the April issue discussed using shaping to teach dogs to become bolder and more confident. All shaping objects should be safe for the dog to interact with. The ultimate goal is to teach 64 Once Finnigan is consistently and eagerly running across a flat board add in a new contact behavior. Based on his size (14 lbs.) and history of problems, a two-on/two-off contact behavior is not ideal for him. I would recommend teaching him a down or bow in the yellow at the end of the board. This technique can be very successful with small dogs. I personally like the bow as it lowers the dog’s center of gravity to keep the board from bouncing him off when it hits the ground, yet it puts him in a good position to begin moving quickly as soon as he is released. Clean Run | December 07

Clean Run Magazine - December 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - December 2007