"Proprioception: the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement."
I am not interested in competing in Agility with Lily, but I do see value in many of the pieces of agility equipment for proprioception and, in turn, building confidence......and for just plain fun! With that in mind, a year ago I asked Rich to make me a pause table and a set of jumps, which he did. He also made me a set of weave poles.
I have used both the pause table and the jumps, but except for an afternoon class where Sue taught us the very beginnings of Susan Garrett's 2X2 Weave Pole method, I have not done anything at all with them yet.
Ever since Cathy began setting up Challenge Courses on her tennis court, I have been toying with the idea of building a Teeter. As with all my other agility type equipment, it has to be both portable and storable. It has to be light enough that I can carry it and it must be able to be transported in my car....at the same time that Lily is traveling in the car.
Rich and I have used the plans found in Ann Embry's Dog Agility Equipment Construction Instructions in the building of our pieces of equipment. When it came time for building Lily's Teeter, my wonderful neighbor, Fred, once again came to my rescue and we spent parts of two days putting it together.
Donna builds a Teeter
Eileen's Teeter
Eileen's Teeter is of a different design. Her board is 1" thick and shorter and the base is adjustable. Her dogs are smaller and lighter than Lily.
Eileen and Clara teach a lot in these two videos. I am so hopeful that she will continue to share her clips with me. Even though we have different goals, Eileen is an experienced agility trainer and competitor and I can learn following her example.
Eileen and Clara teach a lot in these two videos. I am so hopeful that she will continue to share her clips with me. Even though we have different goals, Eileen is an experienced agility trainer and competitor and I can learn following her example.
Lily's Teeter
Yet, a different design. The board on Lily's Teeter is 12"x3/4"x8'. The base is 16"H and is not adjustable.
Board painted and ready to begin.
The fulcrum is placed on the lower sections of 2 cinder blocks.
Step 1: Lily's introduction to the new Teeter turns out to be CONTACTS L3 from the original Levels ... with just a little movement of the board.
3
4
The fulcrum is raised to the center brace of the cinder blocks. At one end of the teeter I have place 3 cinder blocks on their sides covered by a mat to make a raised platform. This controls the angle of the board as Lily learns to control its downward movement.
Step 2a: Introduce Lily to the steeper incline.
CRITERIA: Becoming comfortable. Placing all 4 paws on the board.
Step 2a: Introduce Lily to the steeper incline.
CRITERIA: Becoming comfortable. Placing all 4 paws on the board.
The platform that modifies the full swing of the Teeter.
A good suggestion from Sheila - put pool noodles on the ends of the board to cut down on the noise and to stabilize the touch down on the cement! I just happened to have 2 noodle pieces of the exact size stored in the dog closet!
Interestingly, Lily has a nice straight entry from the left, not so good from the right. So we will work on entries and exits for a while. But I am happy with the size and thickness of the board. It appears that it will work just fine for our purposes.
CONSTRUCTION NOTE: When Fred and I were building the base, we glued one of the 2 tees that hold the fulcrum. Mistake! This greatly inhibits my ability to remove the board and take the teeter on the road. Maybe Fred will have a better solution. In the interim, I loosened the screws and used a mallet to slide the metal bar far enough to one side to permit me to place the second tee, then used the mallet to move the bar back through into the tee. With minor adjustment to the position of the bar, the problem has been resolved.
Back to the training drawing board. Sue clarified the physics of the teeter to me and I learned that the teeter is designed to be one-way. Lily is to ONLY enter the teeter from the resting side.
3/21
3/21
I am now using the teeter in its "real" base which has significantly increased the angle of the board. Consequently, I have once again added the platform to the down side. In addition to "gentling" the exit angle it will also (I hope) help extinguish the two-way behavior that I had trained. I plan to get 2 bags of water softener salt as Sue suggested, and use them to further stabilize the base.
I am following Eileen's advice and not progressing beyond 2a with this higher incline. Lily and I have done 3 short sessions this morning and I am THRILLED beyond measure. This is exactly what I hoped to gain from this equipment - building confidence; building body awareness; developing balance.
Step 2a: Introduce Lily to the steeper incline.
CRITERIA: Becoming comfortable. Placing all 4 paws on the board.
I am following Eileen's advice and not progressing beyond 2a with this higher incline. Lily and I have done 3 short sessions this morning and I am THRILLED beyond measure. This is exactly what I hoped to gain from this equipment - building confidence; building body awareness; developing balance.
Step 2a: Introduce Lily to the steeper incline.
CRITERIA: Becoming comfortable. Placing all 4 paws on the board.
3 AM
- staying at 2a until Lily is comfortable and consistently stepping on the board
- 2 feet
- all 4
- staying on the down side of the fulcrum
- one time Lily's rear legs slipped off and she slid backwards down to the bottom!
- 2b
- walking comfortably onto the board up to the fulcrum
- jumping off and returning
- working on a clean entry
- 2c
- luring Lily to tip the board and walk to the end
- the cinder block platform is in place
- staying at 2c until Lily can comfortably and consistently walk the teeter and exit off the platform
- continuing to work on a clean entry
- working on extinguishing the "2-way" entry'
NOTE: Have placed two 40# bags of water softener salt on the bottom crossbars for stabilization
3/24
3/24
- continuing with slowly walking the plank
- platform still in place
- this is such a good "thinking" exercise for Lily
- "Where are my hind legs?"
- she carefully tips the board and walks to the end
3/25
- confidence and back legs go hand in hand
- today was the day
- confidence and speed also go hand in hand and that causes a structural malfunction with the teeter
With confidence comes speed
Teeter Malfunction
(back to the drawing board)
NOTE: Fred suggested that we drill holes into the tee connector and add screws. Then, when I want to transport the teeter or store it, we still have the option to remove the board.
- The screws have been added
- This afternoon, in her haste to reach the treats at the end, Lily's left front paw slipped and got caught between the board and the base. Not good. This is the purpose of this piece of equipment - learning to think in stimulating environments.
- I have to remember to go slowly.
3/28
Yesterday, when Wendi arrived, Lily was too excited to think on the teeter and all 4 feet disconnected from Lily's brain. Was it Wendi? Was it food? Whatever it was - there was no hint of self control!
Today just Lily and I spent 5 minutes at the teeter. Calm and quiet prevailed. Controlled entries and exits. "Slow is fast".
Today just Lily and I spent 5 minutes at the teeter. Calm and quiet prevailed. Controlled entries and exits. "Slow is fast".
There's nothing wrong with the teeter. BUT the teeter is balanced and designed to be entered from the down side, not from the up side. I very much doubt that Lily is going to get hurt with a light teeter the height of this one at the speed she's going BUT.
ReplyDeleteThere is no part of "teeter" which requires the dog to pull the teeter down to mount it. The teeter is always already on the ground when she approaches it. Right now you have no height to speak of, but when you take the bricks out from under the landing mat, there will be a significant fall. It's the dog's job to figure out not only that she can go over something that's going to fall out from under her feet as she goes over it, but that SHE has the ability to manipulate it. It becomes her job to drop it at a speed she's comfortable with, and that depends on where she puts her weight when she's passing the fulcrum.
Some dogs are very conservative. They stop at the fulcrum and shift their weight forward in quarter inches so the teeter goes down soooo sloooowly. Others are more daring. Some Border Collies (and Scuba) want to run the board so fast that the teeter hasn't had a CHANCE to start down before they come to the end. I managed to teach Scuba she had to tip it from the fulcrum before she launched for the stars more than a couple of times. Most high-end Borders know they have to stick the down contact, so they dash up to it, then just ride it down THUMP (which I really, really hate).
Most, like Stitch, develop a natural hesitation just after the fulcrum while they wait for the "ride" to begin to assume "exit" status.
Going back and forth, as Lily's doing, however, robs her of the ability to tell what the ride is going to be like when she's on the full-height drop, so she won't be able to control it.
Eileen may be worried that your board appears to be bonging up and down like a diving board, but I think that's just because Lily's not intent on holding the down contact steady in connection with the ground.
ReplyDeleteAnd your teeter IS adjustable - you just adjusted the ground side rather than the fulcrum side.
I agree with her opinion that Lily might get hurt. The fault is not in the teeter but in the part where Lily is backtracking over the teeter in the wrong direction so she isn't learning to control the teeter calmly but having to think about how far it's going to drop to the ground before she can put her weight on it.
The teeter is safe. You can make a few adjustments. Later.
STOP having Lily go both directions over it. The up contact (which, counterintuitively, is the yellow contact she gets on to go UP the ramp, NOT the yellow contact that is up in the air as she approaches it - think of it as an UP escalator) is the ONLY entrance contact. The down contact (again, the down escalator, the one she goes down to the basement on) is the ONLY one she ever gets off the teeter by.
The teeter is not a two-way obstacle. It always only goes one way.
OK, the teeter: I don't think the board is too light. I think it was wobbling because Lily was getting on and off, not just standing quietly on the down contact.
I don't like that it was moving. The bricks are too light. Sandbags would be ideal to hold it in place. Ask your hardware store guy where you can get some sandbags. Or... do you have water softener salt sold there? Also excellent, and very cheap.
The interim height is good. It looks like you're using blocks to stabilize the stand as well, which is where heavy bags would be better.
I don't think 2o2o is necessary at the speeds she'll be going. It's to ensure the dog actually hits the contact rather than jumping to the ground from the fulcrum, and also to give the handler a safe and legal spot to get e dog in a full stop in case the handler needs to catch up a bit.
LS
I'm not even using the stand right now......just the fulcrum inserted into the 2 cinder blocks. So I'm not quite clear where the sand bags would go.....
Maybe it would be better if I used the actual teeter base (fulcrum at 17" AND the cinder block platform on the down side,
controlling the down angle that way??? It would be steeper by about 5".
Yes, use the whole thing and build up the landing if you want to.