New dog, old "food bowl" trick

Ok, so the teeter wasn't going so well last weekend. I was pretty depressed. I did NOT want to move it down again and go backwards. Kim, training buddy extraordinaire, and I were hashing through this AGAIN on Monday night when she said, "you know, there is that food bowl method they use with Border Collies on the table..." YES!!! Why didn't I think of that earlier! Border Collies notoriously have table issues because it stops the game. So you take the dog's food out in his/her food bowl, yep metal bowl and all, and he/she doesn't get their dinner until he/she gets on that table multiple times and does a performance. 

Soooooo, Tuesday evening the boys went upstairs, Devon and I went downstairs, and I took Devon's food bowl and filled it with kibble. She started foaming at the mouth as she usually does when her food is taken to her. And then we went outside. She didn't know WHAT to think of this! She did perfect heads up heeling to the back agility yard (I even stopped to see if she'd sit and she did; I'm mean). Then I said, "And what do you think you need to do to GET your dinner to night?" She is no fool! She ran right over to that blasted teeter! Up and over happy, tail wagging no teeter issues at all if it meant her DINNER! The devil!

After a few successful teeter performances, I put her food bowl up and headed for the weave poles. I had also been a little disappointed with her lack of speed in the weaves, so once again Kim had an idea. Instead of throwing a ball, throw a bumper! And make it a surprise. When I went out and filled her food bowl, I tucked a bumper under my shirt. We headed over to the weaves (we had to detour up and over the dogwalk just to prove to me she could do it). After her first set of weaves, out came a BUMPER! You got it, she was so excited! Her energy level was up and her attitude was up! Her weaves weren't much faster, but that's ok because she's thinking. 

We've used the same methods Wednesday night and tonight, and Devon's whole attitude about training is different. She's excited to go to the agility yard, and she's happy during her training. Tonight I couldn't get her off the teeter! She kept running over to it, volunteering it! We also did her first "sequence" with the teeter, when I did A frame to teeter. She just nailed the teeter without hesitation, and she went up from the bottom of the board instead of stepping up on the side! I've been a little worried about her getting in too much of a habit of jumping on the side.

We've also start working some 3-5 obstacle sequences (without teeter and weaves). Tuesday and Wednesday it was really just putting together some jump combos, and tonight I added contacts. This girl is nailing everything and getting quite fast! Also, based on some posts from the Woofpack list (thanks Sharon!), I ran and did turns on the balls of my feet and it did make me faster. When I went faster along the contacts, Devon's speed on the contacts was faster. Interesting! I'm starting to think I won't have the speed issue I was worried about now that she's really getting the game. 

So after tonight's session I raised the teeter one link. We're going to raise it one link per night unless she struggles, then we'll keep it where it is until she's confident again and keep going up. This was again another suggestion from Kim, and I really like it. It keeps her going forward (what I need) and it's no too big of a step each time (which she needs). I measured it after I raised it since I had not measured it after it went up and down a few times when I friend used it. It's set at 20 inches exactly right now -- 4 more inches to go! And my new teeter arrives on Oct. 17, just in time to start transitioning her to full sized teeters "on the road."

Oh, and the channel weaves are set at 1.5 inches. I will try and close them down to zero at .5 inches per day, but I also need to wean the wires off too. Taking the wires off shouldn't be an issue, since I really don't think she knows they are there. I've put wires on from a recommendation from Kim and Jenn. They said it's worth getting the dogs used to them now in case you need to put them back on later. I agree with this advice. Ian had wires on his weaves, and this summer when I needed to go back and some remedial weave work, being able to put those wires on the entrances and exits were an easy way to keep him in the poles with no stress on either of us. As soon as he was confident again, I popped them off and I haven't had any more problems with him popping out!

I think I've discovered the keys to why she failed last year. Jenn Crank identified it first when she said we skipped our 3-5 obstacle training and went right from one jump work to full courses. Second, I didn't do enough individual obstacle work -- how could I when I didn't have an A frame or an adjustable dogwalk? It only took 2 weeks of that dogwalk being lower to build her confidence; the same with the A frame. It was a huge investment for 2 weeks of training, but well worth it in the end. I have a confident dog and a full set of agility equipment!

I think the final thing that's helped us is where we are in our other sports. She's quite confident in tracking and field work right now, and there's little to no stress in either sport. Last year we were still in the late stages of pile work when I started hitting agility hard. This was bad timing because she was in full pressure stage of field. While I thought agility would be a good break, it wasn't for Devon. She was trying to learn a whole new sport while getting a lot of pressure in another one. Then I cranked up the tracking again to get her ready for fall tests, and that was way too much. Now that we're through with the pressure stages of field, I can take it easy on those sports and only work them a couple of times a week and hit the agility almost every day for 10-20 minutes. 

I'm finally really thinking it will all come together soon. This is the most confident I've been in a long time. Devon looks just great, and she's really getting things this time around!