Flying Poodles

Watching a master

Debbie has been working with Dancer on her teeter skills.

A bit of background. First, Dancer has had teeter issues for years. She thinks the teeter is scary, both the noise and the motion. A few months ago I decided to make one more effort to train her to do the teeter–because I’d love to be able to do USDAA with her, and that requires a teeter.

So I started low, and got her running across, and we were pretty much there… until she decided to try the scary noisy teeter at Debbie’s facility (High Voltage Agility). She did it… and she scared herself silly. Again. <<Sigh>>

I told Debbie and she asked if she could give it a try. I don’t think she could stand watching me. That’s fine. I couldn’t stand watching me either.

So she got all cheerful, and got the clicker, and pulled out cheese (which Dancer doesn’t normally get and loves), and started rewarding Dancer for banging down the up end of the low teeter. After about ten minutes, she had Dancer banging it down pretty hard (with one paw, her right). It was a masterful display of ever-increasing expectations. That was last Thursday.

Monday she worked with her for another fifteen or so minutes and she was banging down the teeter with both paws. So Debbie quit.

Today, she got out the cheese and put a chair under one end of the big scary teeter (the one Dancer scared herself on) so the other end was about knee height. It only took a few minutes before Dancer was pulling it down with both paws and making a big bang. Debbie made the chair a little lower so the end was higher–and Dancer went on pulling it down with both paws.

Now, we’re nowhere near a full-height successful teeter, but I have LOVED watching Debbie work. She knows exactly when to reward Dancer so that she keeps working, keeping her excited and involved–and constantly trying harder to earn that treat.

She’s a master of the clicker.