Agility "Hurdles"

 What you've got planned sounds like a good idea to me.  Just remember to be patient and take it slow.  :)

Yes, this is one that's just going to take some time.

A lot of sound-sensitive dogs have an aversion to the teeter slamming the ground.  The "cure" for this is often to sit near the teeter and treat/reward the dog every time the teeter bangs so that the dog learns that bang = good stuff.

In your case, though, I would be very, very hesitant to use this sort of conditioning.  I would worry that she would start to think, "ooh, I knock bars and get a treat!"

I would just keep plugging along and reward her for going over jumps -- lowering them as necessary to give her confidence.

How tall is Teddy and how high are the jumps you regularly work over?  It might not hurt to school over lower jumps until she's further along in her training.

Definitely play around with jump bars in the house.  Drop them and give her treats.  Roll them towards her and give her treats.

Hopefully this will work to your advantage in that she'll become a careful jumper.  So many dogs just plain old don't care about knocking jumps and that's a fast way to NQ!

 Thanks for ideas and encouragement.

Teddi had her first AKC measurement and was a solid 24". So far the biggest she has jumped intentionally is 16". I hope if we can get her jumping form better we can get her to at least preferred height (20";) but only time will tell. Because of her hurting so much as a puppy she taught herself the hurl through the air instead of push off her hind end. That is why I think she drops the bars too. Yes we need jump chutes and we work to on sit, jump sit, trying to get her to push off her butt. At home we are limited to one jump as it is too cold outside now. As I said in class we lowered back to 12" to make it very easy for her. Perhaps after the holiday we can take her to the facility to practice once a week to get her back on track.

I can't remember if I mentioned she was afraid of the teeter in class at first. She ran up it like she does the one at home, and when it dropped it did bang. Our home one does not as it is in grass. She did back off but we worked with her, treating as it starts to go down and treat again at the contact. She has gotten over that problem, on to the next. 

Also at home whenever we are doing something "weird", like recently we moved out our broken dryer. She got "worried" I had DH call her into the room get near the dryer do a command (sit down something) and treat her. Anytime we see her running away, I want to call her to face her fear. She started this as a pup, but then she would turn around and go check out the noise. Now she just keeps moving away. She is afraid of my blow dryer so we made a game of it. She does bark and snarl at it, but she doesn't run away. She does not like being dried, but she is getting better. We walked near a busy road and she was "worried" the whole walk. I guess I need to do more of that. PLEASE DO NOT BECOME THUNDER PHOBIC!!!!! So far absolutely no fear of t-storms. 

I wish I could win the lotto so I could have more training time and less at work time. 

 Just remember that with object phobias, it's best to start at the critical distance where the dog is comfortable.  So if she's afraid of the blow dryer, but she'll be 10 feet from it, let her stand there and reward.  Slowly move closer, etc.

For rear-end strength, you can do sit ups and standing on hind legs for treats, if that does not cause her discomfort.  Also if you have an exercise ball, you can get her to put her front feet on that and then try to get her to move it around that way.  That will work core muscles as well as rear-end and front shoulders.

The book, Developing Jumping Skills, is a great book to teach a dog how to jump with round form and to use their rear end to do so.

 Thanks Leslie, I will look for that book. I guess I will be doing some serious agility reading in the not too distant future, I think my trainer is going to send me home with some books soon too. Now to find the time. LOL

I have heard too about the exercise ball. I want to look into that. 

I want to thank all for the suggestions. I will work on this. 

Another thing with the blow dryer, Belle LOVES it, so when she comes in to be "fluffed" Teddi is usually watching. So I blow Belle and shoot the air at Teddi making funny, happy game noises, she does not run away anymore. She still stays a "safe" distance but I think she has figured out it is a game, she just isn't completely sure what to do with it yet. Such a silly sensitive dog. They all present their challenges don't they. That is what keeps it interesting. 

tashakota

For rear-end strength, you can do sit ups and standing on hind legs for treats, if that does not cause her discomfort.  Also if you have an exercise ball, you can get her to put her front feet on that and then try to get her to move it around that way.  That will work core muscles as well as rear-end and front shoulders.

some neat ideas there - just wondering how you get a dog to move the exercise ball?

Bugsy will not stand up - well unless a cat is in the tree - how do you teach that?

thanks and sorry if I am thread jacking - just curious 

go to clean run's website and order some DVDs: Get on the Ball, Susan Salo's jumping program, and one of the DVDs about strengthing the performance dog. The jumping DVDs are excellent.

kpwlee

tashakota

For rear-end strength, you can do sit ups and standing on hind legs for treats, if that does not cause her discomfort.  Also if you have an exercise ball, you can get her to put her front feet on that and then try to get her to move it around that way.  That will work core muscles as well as rear-end and front shoulders.

 

some neat ideas there - just wondering how you get a dog to move the exercise ball?

Bugsy will not stand up - well unless a cat is in the tree - how do you teach that?

thanks and sorry if I am thread jacking - just curious 

For the ball, once they get their front feet on it, they usually begin to move it on their own just because it's unstable.  You just begin to wait for them to move it once or twice then c/t.  Soon they'll be walking backwards (cause that's easier for them to do) several steps and you just c/t for that.

I hold a treat over their heads. :)  A good treat.  Start out just getting them to stand up quickly.  Then stand up for a little longer each time.  For Kota because he can already sit up on his haunches, I am getting him to go from a sit up, to a stand up and then back into a sit up, keeping the front legs off the ground all the time.  For Tasha, we started working on them separately and now we're just getting to the point of going from a sit up to a stand up.  She's much heavier in the chest than Kota is compared to their body weight and size, so it's much harder for her. 

tashakota

She's much heavier in the chest than Kota is compared to their body weight and size, so it's much harder for her.

Thanks for the info I can't see any harm in trying these just to see how he does

I have heard great thing about the exercise ball, perhaps when I have money I will get one for my dogs from Clean Run and one for me and we can all work on strengthening LOL We do "popping" exercises where the dog "pops up" from the sit touches our hand returns to sit and gets a treat. I have not tried standing.

I wanted to update how Teddi is doing. Over my holiday break I was able to get her to the facility to practice 3 times. My friend Stephanie whose corgi I am running came too. The first time Teddi was "moderately" interested in participating, then she shut down and would not jump. My friend Stephanie whom I affectionately call "the Pez dispenser" (you should see the size of her treat bag and it's contents) went to her bag and found some REALLY yummy treats for Teddi. We got her all enthused, and played around then we got her around the course two times (in pieces) with out stops and we called it a day. The second practice we had less issues with "jumpus interruptus" and the third session she did not stop at all. Stephanie is prepared with a wooden spoon loaded with cheez whiz, if she starts thinking about shutting down. Teddi loves her spoon, she also goes NUTS for sweet potato treats so she got a bunch for Christmas.

Last night Teddi's new agility session started. She has a half hour weave class, one hour break while I run Belle and Chloe, then her agility class. I was very interested how she was going to handle all that work. She was GREAT!!!! She stayed engaged and focused all through class. She only stopped once, it was a tricky sequence where I was supposed to move 'away' from the obstacle, and I think that motion confused her. I said "uh oh!" made a silly sound backed her up and off she went to finish the run. My trainer and I were both really pleased with her. I hope it keeps up all 6 weeks. 

 I know I still need more strengthening and focus from her still, but she did not wimp out on me and that made me very happy. She had a busy active weekend she was exhausted Sat and Sun nights. So I was particularly glad she did not 'shut down'. She jumped the plank and the double, and the triple with out a hesitation. In weave class a dog knocked over a small section of weaves, Teddi whipped around, I looked at her and said "uh oh!' and fed her a treat. It will get better I know it will.