The teeter
The teeter remains the most difficult obstacle for Jasmine. Not only does it move on its own, but it makes this horrible noise when the plank hits the floor, which is waaayy too loud for Jasmine’s little ears. You can google it if you want for the exact details, but it isn’t any headline news that the dogs’ hearing is much more developed and keen than the very lacking humans’. It’s not surprising that the teeter still is a challenge for certain dogs like mine.
Our coach/instructor showed us the bang game. It’s very simple and yes, fun! We block the teeter so that the plank is only about 1 cm from the floor. In our case, we simply used a chair. We then ask the dog to climb on the end of the plank and her weight makes it drop to the ground.
I also want Jasmine to get rid of her fear of both the noise and the equipment. Every time the other dogs of the class would make the teeter go bang, I would shove a treat in Jasmine’s mouth. Let’s hope she learned something from that evening. Her first time on the teeter was good, but that’s it. She then tried every way she could to avoid the plank. Our only progress was getting her paw on the teeter and pushing the plank down. A doggy scientific experiment if you will. She probably thought she was verrry brave. We must work more on it.
Our success of the day was the stationary plank. A few months ago, she would speed walk it. Now? A full run! Now THAT is progress! Mmmmm. I wonder when she found this new self-confidence?
Nose targets
I decided to review our nose target technique and two days were long enough to convince me that yes, it can be corrected.
Cool. Scaredy-cat Lucy would surely benefit from the bang game too.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw a home-made pvc/plywood mini-teeter somewhere on the internet... Excuse me while I go google.
PS Welcome back to blogdom!