Clean Run Magazine - June 2008 - 44

So, every time Quinn took a couple steps up the teeter, I called him off the obstacle and ran with him to the safe zone where we played Frisbee. Then I released him to go do his own thing, put the Frisbee in my pocket, and returned to the teeter. I did not ask Quinn to accompany me, but every time he chose to follow me back to the teeter and touch it. Each time I waited for him to go a little bit farther up the plank before I called him off. This was a very careful balance of raising criteria and getting the timing right so that I could release him from the teeter before he jumped off. This process didn’t take long at all, and suddenly Quinn was offering running up and down the teeter. We made it higher; that did not matter in the least. Then I stopped holding the pivot joint. The creaking bothered him slightly and we could watch the thought process as Quinn decided not to care about it. At that point I decided to experiment. I called Quinn off the teeter and ran to his safe zone with him to play. This time when I put the Frisbee in my pocket and released him to go about his business, I stayed in the safe zone, ignoring him rather than going back to the teeter. I wondered if Quinn would take any steps toward the teeter without me. Liz’s jaw dropped as Quinn ran full speed across my yard, ran up the teeter, stopped just before the tip point, and turned his head backward like an owl to make sure that I was watching. I praised him and ran up to the teeter while he waited for me. When I got there he finished the teeter and then I played Frisbee with him near the teeter rather than running with him back to his safe zone. Taking the pressure off, knowing how to reward the dog, where to reward him, and what to reward him with, were all Quinn needed to jump-start his teeter rehab. It turned out that Quinn was so pleased with his newfound friend, the teeter, that Liz did not feel the need to make a recording of the noise. He was not worrying about the thud the teeter was making in her backyard when she removed the pillows after two days of short training sessions. He was also using the teeter at the agility club during private lessons, which was the same teeter he’d panicked about before. The Last Piece of the Puzzle There is one final piece that needs to be added to the teeter puzzle: Quinn still needs to be desensitized to the sound of other dogs smacking the teeter in group classes. This will be Liz’s next project, so that Quinn can attend group agility classes without feeling distressed when the teeter is being used. The various elements of Quinn’s story remind us that we need to remember to step back from a problem and see the bigger picture for each dog. We need to read each dog and become familiar with his history and personality so that we can know how to meet his needs as an individual rather than falling back on a one-size-fits-all approach. And we need to be ready to be creative when adjusting the training structure to suit a dog’s needs. D Leslie McDevitt, MLA, CDBC, CPDT is a dog behavior consultant and agility enthusiast who lives with her pack near Philadelphia. Leslie specializes in behavior modification for stressed and reactive performance dogs and is the author of the popular book, Control Unleashed: Creating a Focused and Confident Dog, published by Clean Run. Proudly made in the U.S.A 44 Clean Run | June 08

http://genuinedoggear.com http://genuinedoggear.com http://cleanrun.com

Clean Run Magazine - June 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - June 2008