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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Teaching an Aggressive Teeter Performance



Starting with tugging at 2 on 2 off and building
to an aggressive release.

I have been fascinated in how Swedish trainer, Fanny Gott, builds drive from the earliest stages of training. One of her secrets is training a very engaged release. I will try to find the video where she teaches the very earliest stages of this, but at this time, I was thrilled to find this video that shows how she translates this skill to the teeter.

In this video, she demonstrates a back chained training progression that starts with a 2 on 2 off at the end of the teeter and releases to a reward, in this case, tugging.

The dog is backed up further on the board, until the dog is running (charging!) the length of the board to the end of the board for the release/reward.

The basic skill progression for this could also be taught on a contact board before progressing to the teeter itself. She also teaches this skill by working on stairs.

Here is Fanny's article on the subject, posted to her blog.

In the article, she asks us to note that her dog Epic's performance in this video is not entirely correct in that he is primarily releasing upwards into the toy, rather than head down and centered into the 2o2o, which is the preferred form.

Also, notice that all rewards are given straight on to the teeter, as opposed to from the side. Rewarding from the side will train the dog to curve to the side at the end, inhibiting independent obstacle performance and potentially setting up for side dismounts or an ineffective release.

The overall result of this training results in a dog whose primary goal in teeter performance is to get to the reward/release. This differs fundamentally from training that focuses on teaching the dog to "tip" the teeter by focusing on the pivot point. This hoped for result is an explosively fast teeter performance that is focused on a powerful release into the next task ahead.

Thank you, Fanny, for posting this valuable training demonstration!

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