See Saw Puppy Training w Portia and Honey Bear

Michele and Honey Bear

My 2 working agility dogs were NOT introduced to the see saw in the following manner.  They did the low teeter for 6 weeks as our club teaches it, then it was gradually raised over several weeks.

However, still part of the Fat Tuesday experiment (previous post on Tunnel Relays) with training 10 year old Portia to train a puppy, seeing how long I could hold her interest, and seeing what I could get out of 5 lbs. of fearless Papillon from the first attempt, here's a composite video of what we accomplished over a 10 minute session.  I would not attempt this with a timid or overly rambunctious dog, but it worked out well for 4 month old Honey Bear (aka Winnie Pooch).



I do insist on a front entry as shown (with guide gates at first), a nose touch at the bottom to lower their center of gravity and get a solid "halt", and I require a release before they get off.  A side exit from the bottom is allowed, but only after the halt and release. 

As you can see, Honey Bear has no fear of the seesaw and ran right to the end on his first attempt.  This is not typical of most dogs I've seen in Intro.  He was, of course, running to get his Cheerio.  I am convinced that the placement of the treat at board level, creating a nose touch behavior within 2 inches of the end of the board, is why neither of my dogs have the fly off, get off, stop in the middle, refusal problems I see in so many other agility dogs.  Even with my experienced dogs, I still bend down and treat at the end of the board at least half the time in practice to keep their performance at its best.  Or, if I'm a good distance away, I click when they get to the end, then release them for a treat.

For more tips on see saw training with "around the clock" exercises, follow this link.

Upwards and onward!

See Saw Fly-Offs

Dog springs off see-saw long before it hits the ground,
an automatic disqualification.

Photos by Michael Loftis

This weekend in Mobile, I witnessed several see-saw fly-offs, and tonight teaching my first Intermediate Beginners class, I witnessed 3 fly-offs in a row as all 3 of my students (Jen, Jerry and Judy) sent their 20" dogs running full throttle thru a curved tunnel then over a full-height see-saw!  It was their dogs' first fast run to the see-saw, and they didn't reach the end when their dogs did. The fly-offs surprised the heck out of all of us!

Witnessing all this has confirmed for me, more than ever, that the 4-feet-on-the-down-contact behavior on the see-saw is a must. In fact, according to Susan Garrett, there should also be a nose touch as well.

Not only does a leaping dog land with a thud from 2-4 times their height and is often stunned on contact, and could easily sprain a leg, but I've also seen a tightly spring-loaded see-saw return upright and bang the airborn dog in the stomach or catch their back feet and flip them over.  An improperly performed see-saw can scare the dog from doing see-saws, and can be dangerous.

Low and behold, Michael Loftis, the photographer in attendance at the Mobile trial last weekend, caught a few of these fly-offs on camera.  What luck!  I've never seen pictures of this before.  Since I doubt any of the handlers will order these photos of "oops" moments, I asked Michael for permission to use these thumbnails for "editorial use", to illustrate a serious point. He graciously agreed.  As each of these photos show, the handler was not at the end of the board when the dog got there and was unable to put a treat down, or a hand out, as in training, to slow the dog down.  Their only ammunition was to call "halt", "spot" or "stop", and this apparently was not enough for these novice dogs.

Lucky Lucy and Michele, Mobile, March 2011

Lucky had a bit of a fly-off too, not much and the judge didn't fault her, but she landed hard, stopped running for a few seconds and looked at me, somewhat stunned.  I wasn't sure she would continue the run.  But she did.  This shook her up, though, and a few obstacles later she leaped clean over the down contact on the A-frame and got eliminated. The next day, I made sure I reached the end of the contact zones before she did, made her stop, and she did perfect contacts on all 3 contact obstacles.

The only way I know to prevent this error is that dogs must NEVER be allowed, from the first day of agility training, to leave the see-saw until released from it.  It has to be totally ingrained into them that the only behavior they can do is run to the end, ride it down, stop, and wait for a release. They should learn to stay at the end for 5 minutes if necessary, until released. Training this is not hard, but requires absolute consistency throughout the life of the dog, and however great their training, you can count on the performance being a bit less reliable in the ring. I've already blogged about training the see-saw in these posts:

See Saw Training Around-The-Clock
See-Saw Issues
Fast Contacts

Now I'm more determined than ever to train and teach the contacts right.

Upwards and onward!

Fast Contact Obstacles

D can lose a lot of speed if they lolly-gag over the dog walk, A-frame or see saw.  If a whole run's Standard Course Time (SCT) is 60 seconds, and D stops on the apex of the A-frame to survey the arena, or sniffs its way across the dogwalk, or stops half-way across the see-saw and waits leisurely for it to tip and go down, you've just added maybe 10-20 (or more) seconds to your run time.  You absolutely can't afford slow contacts.

So, how to get fast contacts?  As always, FOOD!

Start with floor work with your puppy.  Sit D or have someone hold D on leash.  Walk away with a good treat or toy in your hand.  Call D to you.  "Maxie, come!"  Encourage them to run fast.  Increase the distance until D is running to you from 50'.  If you have a training partner, both of you can take turns calling D and treating at each end. Increase the difficulty so there is NO TREAT if they walk, run slower than top speed, run a crooked line, sniff or get distracted.

Interspurse a jump (or straight tunnel) midway along the straight path.  "Maxie, over, come!"

Interspurse a contact obstacle in the middle of the path.  See details below.

All of these exercises assume D knows the contact and isn't afraid of them, has a good sit/stay . . . .

SEE-SAW:
I've already covered how I train a fast reliable see-saw in a previous post: See-Saw Training.
Every dog I observe who has poor see-saws doesn't do this training, or doesn't do it with precision.

DOG WALK:
Assuming D knows the dog walk and isn't afraid of it and has a good sit/stay . . . . .
Position D about 4-6 feet out from one end of the dog walk in a sit/stay, or have someone hold them.
Walk to the other end.
Show D the treat in your hand and say "Walk it", or whatever you say for the dog walk.
They will come charging over the dog walk to get a good treat.  If not, encourage with verbals such as "come on, hurry up, come get it".
Decide what kind of contact behavior you are looking for (2 on/2 off, 4 on, 4 off), and just before they reach the end of the down contact say "Halt", "Stop", "Wait", or whatever you say for them to pause at the end. 
At the very moment you get the desired behavior, present your treat down close to the board.
"Good Halt"  "Good running"
Train D's head to be DOWN at the end of every contact.  This prevents D from leaping off the boards and missing the contacts altogether.
After you get the speed you are looking for, begin positioning D a wee bit off to either side of the up contact, what folks call "Around The Clock" exercises.
Begin positioning yourself around the clock of the downside contact and further and further away from it, and delaying the treat until the contact behavior is given and you call D off the obstacle and to you.

A-FRAME:
Do the same as for the dog walk, only most D's can't manage to stay on the steep slope in a 4-on.  Little D's with weak front shoulders can't even do a 2-on/2-off position.  With Maxie, I don't make him stop on the board at all because, with his 12" stride, he isn't capable of leaping completely over the yellow contact zone.  I just make sure and treat in the very middle of the bottom of the board, about 2 feet out.  Lucky, with her 5' stride, could easily leap over the yellow zone.  I make her do a 2-on/2-off, and she has strong front shoulders to handle it.  Some handlers make their large D do a DOWN ON THE GROUND at the bottom of the A-frame.  In all cases, make sure and treat in the very middle of the bottom of the board, never near the outside edges.  You want D to get used to staying in the middle all the way to the bottom.

If you want precision and consistency from your D, your D needs precision and consistency from you.

See Saw Training - "Around The Clock" Exercises

It's Wednesday.  Raining.  Hot.  Humid.  Nothing I can do outside. Great day to blog.

Sheryl and I went to the field Monday morning from 8:30-10:30 a.m. I spent some time formalizing my see saw training techniques, with Sheryl acting as my student, as follows:

The see saw presents many challenges:

Correct entries: Entry must be from the yellow zone of the down end.  Not much of a problem for small Ds, but large Ds can and do hop on nearer to the middle of the board, missing the contact zone altogether -- an automatic disqualification.  While side entries are not illegal, I don't allow my dogs to do them.  I train with wings on either side of the entry position, and they have to enter between the wings, i.e., from the bottom.  See short video here.

Correct exits: Exit must be from the far end, and the board must hit the ground before D looses contact.  No fly-offs allowed.  Little D's especially must be trained to run out to the far tip of the board so their weight will bring the board down quickly.  Little D's often run 2/3 or 3/4 out, stop or even back up a few steps, and wait what seems like an eternity for the board to hit the ground before running out to the end, or hopping off from where they are.  All big NO NOs. Large D's often exit by taking a giant leap over the contact zone, missing it altogether, another big NO NO.  D's HAVE TO STAY ON UNTIL THE BOARD HITS THE GROUND, AND GET AT LEAST 1 FOOT INTO THE YELLOW CONTACT ZONE.

Overcoming these issues from any handling angle is essential to "excellent" performance.  The diagram shows how I train this.

INSTRUCTIONS: Position D to your left at 8.  Send to see saw, saying "see saw". As D crosses board, move to 7, say "TOUCH" or ''GET IT".  Once they've eaten the treat, call D to you with your release word: "Off", "Here", "okay", treat, position D to your left side again, send, move to 6, etc. Later, send from 4, move against D's direction to 5, 6, etc.  Do the same from 10-2.

Commands: "SeeSaw, Get It, Off"
Treats: for small D's, encourage them to run to end of board by putting a sticky treat on board about 2" from the end. Put this on a piece of tape so you don't scent the board. Remove tape at end of practice. For large D's put treat on target on ground, a foot or 2 from where board hits ground if you want to encourage the 2 on-2 off behavior, or on the board if you want a 4 on behavior.

Prerequisites:

#1  D must be running over the see-saw, off leash, with H running alongside 5-6' away.

#2  D must have a reasonable 2 on-2 off, or 4 on behavior at the far end. (H must decide which behavior they want D to always perform, and train for that consistently).

#3  A "get it" or "touch" command, allowing D to eat the treat from the target plate.

#3  A release command, such as OFF, HERE or OKAY. Until given, D must stay on the see saw.

#4  Plenty of treats, a target (T) for large Ds, sticky treats for small Ds and some duck or masking tape.

#5 A clicker, if you do clicker training, which allows you to click at the end, and reward after releasing D from the end.
 
NOTES:

Make it fun. No need to do all positions at once, nor always treat. Maybe 8, 7, 6, then a different game on some other equipment. Later 6, 5, 4. Vary your positions throughout D's training, work both sides, and keep it up until no matter where you send from or run to, D succeeds.

See Saw Training

Max is now comfortable with the full height see-saw, however heavy or noisy, and I can send him to it from 15 or 20' away, any angle.  He stays on until I call him off.  Doesn't bail, ever.  My problem used to be he would run up the board to where the upside yellow contact starts, then stop, back up a step, then proceed to about a foot from the end.  Being such a little dog, this made the see-saw go down more slowly, wasting precious time.  And it looked dorky.

He was controlling the speed of the down side movement, probably afraid to fall off.  I've seen other dogs fly off the end before the board hits the ground, which is an automatic fault and can be extremely dangerous. 

Early advice I received from others to correct this behavior was to:
1.  from Tracey R: Lure him to the end with a treat. (that works, but only when luring him)
2.  from Jane S-M: Stick a sticky treat on the end of the board for him to run to and get no matter where I may be.
3.  from Cindy D: Treat at the very end of the board, at board level, at the moment the board hits the ground. (this has worked very well, see P.S. below.)

The 2nd method worked out pretty well at first.  Sticky treats are covered in my blog post, Dog Treats.  Max ran to the end every time without hesitation, gobbled up his treat, and waited for a release.  My fear is that sometimes he'd start eating before the board hit the ground, and a few times has nearly fallen off.  Also, when I don't put a treat there, he sniffs around looking for it, licking up the sticky residue from the previous treat, and is often too preoccupied to come when I release him.

His hesitation only lasts for a few seconds, but in the competition world, if two dogs both Q, the one with the fastest time wins.  A second is a second.  As a great old sailer in Mandeville, who used to win every weekend's sailboat race, once told me : "Few people appreciate my secret, but:

"A foot's a foot, and every foot you can shave off counts."

So if I'm going to compete, I might as well try to win.

P.S.  Added 11/9/2010

3rd choice is what we use now most reliably. Maxie runs quickly out to the end with me running alongside. The second the board hits the ground and makes the banging noise, I present a treat from my fingertips, at board level, "as if it was growing up from the ground". I am careful NEVER to present the treat up in the air because I want D's nose to be down, which lowers D's center of gravity and improves balance. I am also careful not to place my arm across D's face, so I present the treat with the opposite hand from the side I'm standing on. Gradually I have faded out the treats as the "run to the end" behavior became habitual, sometimes treating, sometimes calling off before treating, sometimes not treating at all, and sometimes not running alongside at all. Maxie is nailing the correct behavior no matter where I am on the course (ahead, behind, on the side) up to about 20' away, as described in my Around-The Clock See Saw Training blog post.