Flying Poodles

I swear I saw a lightbulb over her head…

I have been working with Dancer with the teeter for months now. In early July I started working with a method described in Clean Run magazine: basically, you reward the dog for going near the teeter by calling her AWAY from the teeter to reward. In combination with that, I used a method many people have described: click and treat every time someone else bangs the teeter. I went to class and had her with me 50 feet, then 25, then ten, and so on, clicking and treating while other dogs did the teeter. Then at the end of class I clicked her for sniffing the teeter, touching it with a paw, stepping on it… but each time I called her away to reward her.

At the same time, at home I’ve been having her do the rocker board, over and over and over. To my amusement, every time I get the rocker board out now, Elly goes and lies on the couch–because that’s where I reward HER while Dancer does the rocker board.

Dancer has developed a style when doing the rocker board. She moves nicely to the fulcrum, then puts out her left paw and shifts her weight onto it. I had her running off after that for quite a while, but recently I’ve been working the dog walk contact and Dancer has decided that she should do the same thing on the rocker board. (Smart dog, Dancer.)

Yesterday morning I had the teeter at the lowest possible setting. That meant the up side was about six inches off the ground. Dancer got on it and started walking across. She must have been feeling hungry AND brave, because she kept walking and I saw her put her left foot and start to test the weight shift. I clicked and held a treat, just slightly ahead of her nose. Down went the teeter and out came a jackpot. I had steak bits, freshly made the night before. She got about ten of them, one at a time, as I praised her and she stayed on the teeter.

I pushed my luck… and asked her to do it again. Far less hesitation! Another jackpot.

I raised the teeter; the up end was about a foot off the ground.  She walked up it, she put BOTH paws in front of her at the fulcrum, and she pushed it down. That’s when I saw the lightbulb. There was a little thought bubble over her head: “Hmm! All I have to do is push, I control it, and I get steak! Cool!”

She got another jackpot, of course, and then I put her leash on and we left.

We had class last night, and Dancer did the teeter TWICE, no hesitation at all. On the lowest setting, of course.