Update on Contacts

If I could go back (famous last words) I would have trained Taari differently on the teeter. The methods that were used in the classes that I took at the time focused on the tip point. As well as this method being slower than running to the end I believe that it has cause problems when the teeter behaves differently than what Taari expects. If the teeter is slow in tipping Taari jumps off. In training with teeters that Taari knows and in environments where she is more comfortable issues rarely arise. So I am attempting to retrain Taari's teeter. I want Taari to run to the end of the board instead of trying to find the tip point. I bought Wendy Pape's teeter DVD but didn't have a chance to watch it until Taari had a bad teeter weekend. So I am starting to work through the steps and modifying them so I can still do teeters in my weekly group class. During my class I put a poll under the teeter so that Taari will drive to the end, I give her treats and then I kick it out lowering the teeter with varying amounts of speed and height before I drop it. This seems to be working in class. Here is a video demonstrating this.




I have decided to move away from any type of prop on the dogwalk. This has resulted in slower dogwalks but I am hoping that with understanding her speed will increase. If she misses her contact I say no and get her to sit. Then we try again. I have been noticing and others too that her success is related to my body position. You can see her progressively getting faster in this clip.



I am still using the box on the A-frame and have not attempted to change Taari's striding at this point. Here are some videos of her with and without the box. Taari is very good at adjusting herself depending on whether or not she sees the box as can be seen in this video.