Last week I noticed Devon had developed a pattern of bailing off the teeter on the first time over it during an evening practice session, but she would turn around and do it successfully the second time (usually to great rewards) and then remain successful the rest of the evening (also earning rewards). She did this three training sessions in a row, so I was seeing a pattern that I didn’t want to continue or to crop up in a trial (since she cannot repeat the obstacle at a trial if she bails off after having all four paws in it).
The first thing I decided to do was change my words. I’d been saying, “teeter, teeter, tip it” as she approached the teeter and as she progressed over it, even when she’d glance over the side which I take as a sign she might bail. I believed continuing the performance word was encouraging her to continue the obstacle performance. However, I started to wonder if repeating the teeter command might be putting too much pressure on her. She was well aware of her job on that board. So thinking about Wendy Pape’s contract training sessions, I decided that once she had four paws on the board, I’d switch my words to “Good girl!” as she went over the obstacle. As Wendy always says when she’s training contacts, praise them on the board and don’t stress the whole obstacle.
My second concern was that she would learn to re-try the obstacle once she bailed, which would get us whistled off the course at a trial. I have already vowed never to call her off a teeter, especially when she’s on it. I never want the teeter to be a bad thing. However, this would add a lot of stress around the teeter from the judge if she tried to get back on it at a trial.
After much discussion with Kim, we decided if she bails off the teeter, I’m will take her immediately away from the obstacle and put her back on course 3-4 obstacles before the teeter. We want Devon to know she has to perform the obstacle correctly the FIRST TIME in order to earn a reward. If she goes back to it instead of coming with me, she’ll get a “good girl,” but no food rewards for the second effort; again only rewarding the completion of the obstacle the first time. We thought this plan might also rehearse moving her away from the obstacle if she bailed at a trial.
My first test of this new “protocol” came last Thursday in her class at Pawsitive. This is a location that she has done the “first time bail” before. We also had a different teeter that she had not seen for 4 weeks, so it was a good test. She was successful the very first time over the obstacle with the new verbal reward after she mounted the board.
The biggest test was Friday evening at Queen City Training club. We went to run thrus and she’s never been to that facility before. She nailed the teeter the first time over it. I gave her jackpot rewards, then turned her around and asked her for three obstacles and the teeter again. She was successful and got more jackpots. We did a second run and she was again successful. Last night at Lafayette, she was successful every time over the teeter, especially the first time.
So while she may still bail on a teeter performance in the future, I think I discovered the problem this time was my verbal pressure in continuing to give her an obstacle command on the board. Since I have switched to full praise when she’s on the board, she hasn’t bailed off the teeter a single time!
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