More on Daz's teeter

I was on vacation for a week so Daz had some time off from training. I took her along to my class last night to work before Neat's class started and then again after I taught a class.

I started with her on the teeter with the slight drop we had worked before. After a few time of that with no problem I changed table to increase the drop. Apparently it didn't bother her!

I do still need to emphasize to her that she works with me no matter what else is gong on. She can get distracted by the other things going on around her, but she is just 7 mos. old. We'll continue to work at home without distractions and in other environments WITH them as well. 

Daz's teeter

I took Daz down to the BRAG building the other night before my classes began to work her. There is a class going on out on the floor while I work with her off to the side. I like that she is learning to work with distractions and action going on near her. Okay, so once she DID decide to race out onto the floor and greet her Auntie Pam, who was teaching a class. She loves her friends. This was the class Lianne and Dexter were working in, so it was good focus practice for both Daz AND Dex. 


Daz LOVES the jungle gym teeter play! Even reached up to grab the end about 6" up, slammed it down so she could get on because she got impatient waiting for me while I was getting more cookies. She races back and forth on it now, with  good bit of drop going on. 


We also worked on a board flat on the ground to practice our RTO behavior. She doesn't do as well with the longer, thicker board as she does at home. When we go down next time (which now won't be till after my Vegas vacation) I need to remember to bring her board from home. Let her learn to do the familiar board in the new place, then introduce the new and different board. 


We also worked on walking at my side, not forging ahead and doing some turns as we walk. So far, very pleased with my little girlie in every way. Another conformation show tomorrow (Sunday) with a total of FIVE Podengos entered! Anyone iterated in results can check the Casa Do Sol blog. 

Baby Daz learning the basics

So it is time for Daz to make her debut on the Podengo Agility blog. For general updates on Daz see the Casa Do Sol blog. Here I will try to keep up with what she is doing towards her hopeful agility career.

Even though she isn't really doing anything that would much resemble agility to most people yet. Being a very small girl, I am already thinking towards teeter. Early on she and Vettel were both put on a variety of surfaces to get used to different things under their feet. Then I gave them a balance disc to play on. I followed that up with putting a board on the balance disc that tipped and wobbled when they walked on it.

After Vettel left, I kept up with Daz moving things. At a suggestion from another small breed owner, I taught her to  use a paw to close cabinet doors, so she got to know she could use her feet to move things and control them.

Separate from moving things, we also started working on a contact behavior. While she will eventually not do a stop on the end of contacts most likely, I do want to teach her the process and to respect the bottom, so we began work on Rear Toe style contact behavior, based on Linda Mecklenburg's 1RTO article that appeared in Clean Run many years go. (the photos in the article are my sweet little Neat, btw.)

Two weeks ago we got to where she walks along the plank lengthwise and offers the behavior, then moved on to me propping it off my deck steps to make it a slope for her, since I have no actual contact obstacles in my back yard. Actually, I DO own a very old teeter, but after many years of use and sitting outside the board has disintegrated and needs replaced. I hope to get that done before too much longer.

Last week I took it a step further and had Daz down at the BRAG building to work. I set the teeter with both ends on tables and enough padding so that it didn't move at all. She trotted happily back and forth along it, so we took some pads out one at a time to introduce movement on the board. She got a "click/treat" each time it moved. She had a blast, going back and forth!

I am anxious to move on in her contact training!