The regulation see-saw is a complex obstacle, with several elements of difficulty in play at once. Even dogs with agility titles are often tolerating the see-saw but not loving it. We can change that!
This course is designed to help you give your dog the complete skill set to perform the 12-foot regulation see-saw with accuracy, joy, and speed! We can accomplish this goal together with a dog who has never seen the see-saw, a dog who has some bad habits associated with his performance of the see-saw, or with a dog who is, for any reason, afraid of the see-saw. In short, any dog can benefit from this class, and all dogs are welcome in this class. If your pup's growth plates are not closed, then we will pad the regulation height see-saw to minimize concussion.
You will not need to own a regulation see-saw to do the homework in this class. We can teach the skill set with substitute equipment, shorter planks, and lower heights. When you are ready for the regulation see-saw, having access to one just once or twice per week will be adequate for transfer of skills.
We will use clickers, voice markers, cookies, toys, personal play, props, substitutes, approximations, and all manner of shameless fun and games in this class. We will give your dog what he needs to own see-saw skills with happiness and confidence along the way. This class will be a creative challenge, and most important, lots of fun! We will help your dog learn to love every component of the see-saw, every element of difficulty.
We will address both the mental and the physical skills. You will learn to notice and honor and develop all the component skills of your dog's see-saw performance. Each step of the way, you will learn to read your dog and offer the right help and the right reward at the right time, so the dog will demand more. We'll be raising criteria because the dog will demand it.
We will forge many different paths to the goal! Different dogs will learn in different ways, so we will use different approaches and different games to unlock each element of difficulty. We will celebrate the learning style of each individual dog. Above all, we will have a very good time making best friends with the regulation see-saw!
Julie Daniels (she/her) won her first award for writing in the fourth grade, and she was training dogs long before that. Today Julie Daniels is one of the foremost names in dog agility in the United States. She was one of the early champions of the sport and helped many clubs throughout the country...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)
You will NOT need to buy a regulation see-saw for this class! In fact, if your dog has a problem, that 'solution' by itself often backfires. But I can fix that, too!
Beginning in Week 5, you will need access to a regulation see-saw at least once per week. If you want to sign up at the gold level, then hopefully you can access a regulations see-saw three times per week during Weeks 5 and 6 for your three videos. But even if you do not have access I can help you build such confidence and skill in your dog that you will be able to transfer his success to the regulation see-saw at a later time.
You WILL need to be creative in finding or making some simple contraptions for noise, balance, and height! These might include, but are not limited to, various boards and planks, cinder blocks/patio blocks/bricks,picnic benches, to noise makers of all sorts, like Tupperware and silverware and stainless steel bowls to soup cans, soda cans, paper towel rolls, barrels and benches, etc, to height elements like your front porch, car trunk, picnic table, etc.
This class will ask you to think outside the box over and over! You'll be asked to get inside your dog's head and think of useful items that I or your classmates might not imagine. I have a hundred ideas for you to choose from, or maybe you might show me some new bright idea I have never thought of. In any case we will have a great time getting to know your dog's way of thinking and operating and problem solving. We will stretch your dog's confidence and capabilities in many ways! Welcome to AG250!
WOBBLE BOARDS and PROBLEM-SOLVING, by Julie Daniels (from Week 2 of Foundation See-Saw Class)
WOBBLE BOARDS
I love wobble boards. And they come in various shapes and sizes. I advise you strongly that if you get or make a wobble board, MAKE IT ADJUSTABLE! If you can't alter the height of the fulcrum, then the performance will soon be ritualized instead of conceptualized. Even if you have a challenging wobble board, if you cannot adjust the fulcrum then it won't bring you much closer to your see-saw goals. We need your dog to love wobbles that surprise him! Remember that we have been working to build value for the unexpected.
Here are two very different set-ups using wobble boards. These are two opposite examples, but of course, we spend most of our wobble board time on difficulties in between these two extremes. I am never finished with wobble board work. Be careful, start easy! Make sure your dog is happy and successful and well paid every step of the way!
Once again I'll use a puppy as an example, but this is really a perfect way to start with a sensitive adult dog as well. Notice the involvement of the handler. This owner is being a pack leader to her dog by modeling how much fun it is to be on the board. And she is also controlling how much the board can tip. She can stabilize the board at any time just by stepping on one edge. So this puppy is getting an introduction which is part of personal play and which is also very user friendly to a newcomer.
Spencer Low Wobble Board with Mom
This next video is our young friend Brady meeting this same low wobble board for the first time. He is ready for the new and very low challenge, which is just a little bit more difficult than the rocker board because it can tip in every direction rather than just back and forth. This is the reaction you want your dog to show you when he meets such a contraption for the first time. The piece is different, but he is well prepared for this kind of challenge.
Brady Low Wobble Board
Here is an example of an different introductory wobble board, featuring dear Brina. This equipment is a 42” square base with rounded corners and non-slip paint. It is set inside two stacked mini tunnels (4' long each). On this base, the wobble board moves in any direction but is not abrupt and not noisy. It cannot bang on the floor. Brina quickly wanted in the game and enjoyed that board. In this video I am demonstrating the use of personal play to work this little girl up to full empowerment on this safe and polite wobble board arrangement. Is she ready for Sport's challenge below? NO! The next step would be to move out the tunnel and let the board move more abruptly on its own fulcrum (which is a toilet flange, by the way, 2 ½ inches tall).
Brina Easy Wobble Board
This next video is a sharp contrast to Brina's equipment. This is a 'don't try this at home' version of a very advanced wobble board. I include this video just in case we have a couple of dogs in this class who are ready to work up to this very tough challenge. This wobble board is a 38-inch diameter circle of ¾ inch plywood, with a flange underneath. It is the same board used above for Spencer. But now I have added a length of pvc inserted to bring the fulcrum up to 7 inches. And then I've added a rounded cap to the end of the pvc, so the board will never sit flat. This wobble board is painted with ordinary latex paint, no sand, no grip. Because the cap is rounded, the board is simply impossible to stabilize. It requires amazing core strength for a dog to get four feet on at once, which is what my Sport is trying to do here. As you can see, this dog is fully empowered. His failures do not upset him, nor do they deter his enthusiasm in the slightest. He loves this game!
Sport Extreme Wobble Board
To work up to this board, I begin with the flange as the fulcrum, which is only 2 ½ inches high and NOT rounded. That makes it possible to stabilize the board. Brina enjoys this round wobble board that way, as do many of my youngsters in class. The next increment of skill is to insert a piece of pvc to raise the fulcrum to whatever height you choose. Cut several lengths of pvc so that your wobble board is adjustable. The board can be stabilized by an expert dog right up until you use the insert with the rounded cap attached to it. With the round cap on the floor, this board is now not really winnable.
Should you make a board like this? Would you ever want to work up to that expert level which Sport enjoys? All I can say is that I raised this dog, and he used to be afraid of things, and I have done every single game that I am showing you and then some. I have empowered him to the best of my ability. He runs agility with power and passion. We have worked hard together without ever losing the fun of it all, and we have become a great team. This dog believes he wins every class he runs. That's the way I train him, and that's the way I run him. Would that attitude help you as well? Just like anything else, model the fun and the relaxed confidence you want to create in your dog. How does it feel to be trained by you?
PROBLEM-SOLVING
This is the time to solve all the basic problems related to Attraction for your games. We are not just downscaling the difficulty of the see-saw. We are separating the elements of difficulty. We are breaking these elements apart, so we can strengthen them individually, and conceptually.
We have no chance of your dog loving the regulation see-saw if he doesn't enjoy your foundation games. If you have a dog who trusts you to be fun to work with, then he is more likely to be attracted to the progressive challenges you invite him to explore. Do not feel you have to get to all of the games this week! Work at your dog's pace, and keep our class priorities always in mind. As Bob Bailey says, the criterion is joy. There is no rush, and I am here for you. We can find the joy for your dog.
As in so much about training, you will be thinking hard about the art as well as the science of training. This is how we solve problems in our sessions. When to help, when to click, when to lure, when to play, when to let the dog work it out, when to impose relief and how. Do you stop the session or take a break? Interject play? Use a push-back game? Go on to something else and come back to this? It's not set in stone. I ask you above all to keep our highest priority in mind. There is nothing more important than your dog's desire to work with you. If your dog trusts you to be fun and keep him safe, his confidence will rise by leaps and bounds as you play these games and get ready for see-saws.
Has your dog's confidence risen at all from last week? If so, how? Understand the value of your dog's Initiative and Self-Reliance! Keep getting better at observing these increments of progress toward Empowerment with these see-saw games. Careful observation will help you choose when to pay extra (differential reinforcement) and when to intervene to remove pressure or redirect. These things are difficult if you do not know what you are doing and why. But you have a good start now on knowing when to do what! It becomes much easier if your overriding priority is to build confidence by watching for steps toward Initiative and Self-Reliance.
This attitude from you, the trainer, will put a very different perspective on “correctness.” It will help you choose your order of events as you set up your training sessions. It's tricky stuff, but if you just remember what you are trying to accomplish then it gets so much simpler. The overriding lesson is always that you want the dog to FEEL GOOD about what you are doing. His happy, expectant feelings will lead him to confidence and a great attitude for the work. Enjoy! It's contagious! Thanks for playing with me!
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course .....
The foundation see saw class with Julie Daniels was my first Fenzi Academy class and I Loved it! Julie is an amazing instructor who presented all the lessons ina clear and fun way and was always positive and supportive of all her students progress.
Julie Daniels is an exceptional teacher. Seesaw took handler/dogs of various levels and she was able to address everyones individual skill levels. The class lays a terrific foundation for everything, not just teeter. Julie taught me the value of and strategies to build not just confidence but EMPOWERMENT in my girl. She gives very specific, helpful feedback. I took my totally green, somewhat reluctant,dog to an enthusiastic pup who jumps on the teeter when she sees it but it was the handler who learned the most Jennifer L
Julie's training style works so well for me. Ensuring the dog is not only confident but joyful in completing training steps before moving on, is so crucial to the success and happiness of my dog. We started at zero knowledge and zero exposure to the teeter. I'm ending with a dog that can't wait for me to completely set up the teeter to put a paw on it and has turned down a treat to bang the teeter with his paws! Amazing! Thank you! Lisa H.
I took the Julie's teeter course with my young 15 mo old dog who was a blank slate with the teeter. I wanted to make sure she got a great start and would have a lot of confidence on the teeter, and a solid performance and would have plenty of great experiences so when things happen she would not become afraid in the future. This class did all that and so much more. Every element of a good teeter performance was addressed and more importantly we worked on the dogs and handlers confidence - I noticed an increase in my dogs confidence and comfort in life in general because of the work we did in this class. I'd highly recommend it. Kathy M
What an imaginative and thorough way to expose our dogs to every aspect of the teeter. Not only did we find success in the individual exercises, but I see confidence and empowerment in other aspects of life as a carryover. Thank you for a great course. Mary Ann
Wow! Julie is awesome! She explains the key concepts so well that I feel confident training my dogs and being creative. Julie is inspiring and a super supportive teacher. My dogs love the seesaw! I'll take any course that Julie teaches.
This would be an invaluable class for anyone concerned about how to teach the see saw or already dealing with see saw problems. Julie took us thru from the beginning step by step, all targeted to building confidence for the tasks in our dogs. Her reviews of work submissions were very detailed and targeted to each students specific problems. i got the impression that she really cared about everyone's sucess. Looking forward to taking more classes with her Tom T.
I am just a fan of Julie Daniels now. She has helped my dog become more confident and I understand how to set up our training sessions for him to be more empowered. While my dog has a lot to overcome, knowing Julie really truly cares about him (and me) and wants more than anything to see us succeed empowered ME to keep going. I hope to take many more classes through Fenzi and in particular with Julie. I just hope at one point I can hug her in person and have her witness our changes. Thank you so very much. Margo F.
Registration
This is a self-study class. The lectures will appear directly in your library, under the "Self Study classes" heading. Self Study classes do not have class homework forums. You will not have any access to the course instructor for questions or feedback. Please note there are no refunds on self-study classes so review all the information provided carefully before purchasing.
You will have access to these materials in your library for one year from the date of enrollment. You can keep your library pass current by enrolling in at least one course or workshop a year. Alternatively, you can purchase a library pass for $25 per year for as long as you wish to have access to prior class materials.
AG250 Self Study
AG250: Foundation See Saw
AG250 Retired
$50.00
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Instructor: Julie Daniels
