Picking the Agility Puppy with the Tippy Board test.
Published
sheltie Pacesetter , Jan 2005, all rights reserved
Sheltie puppies are cute, fun and all look like great agility prospects at nine weeks. How do you decide which one has the right temperament for you and your agility show needs? A well built/structured dog can give ten years of agility fun, so I want to pick a puppy that I can live with, work with and enjoy showing.
If anything will stop a dog’s agility career cold it is its sound/ noise sensitivity. The teeter-totter is the scariest agility object for small and medium sized dogs; it’s big, it tips, and it makes a ton of metal noise. So I made a tippy board, which is a micro teeter-totter and use it to test puppies for sound and motion sensitivity. The test device is quite simple, a thirty six inch board, 8 inches wide, with a one inch piece of PVC pipe attached to the bottom with a screw.
The baby tippy board is a small cousin to the ten-foot training tee that I use to teach teeter skills to dogs. Previously I used the ten-foot training tee for testing, I did find the agility prospects fast (!), but most likely weeded out a few puppies that would have been good steady partner dogs. I now recognize that all owners do not need over the top drive, or the utterly fearless sheltie that I personally like for agility. Some pet owners may only want a dog that will do agility in classes and at fun matches, for them you want to find a team oriented dog with minimal issues so they can feel successful.
My tippy test is based on working numerous shelties in starter agility, and going to shows and watching dogs last seven years, and spending time considering what skills to look for in a sheltie puppy, since my dogs are getting older. Currently I teach both obedience, agility, and compete with two master level shelties. Wherever I go these days the big discussion seems to be about whether agility puppies should come from working/agility dogs or show dogs.
I am not taking a stand for either position, in my experience the both kinds of breeders can bring up a nice puppy for performance, and both can come up with a dud. For the record, I have seen great agility dogs come from show rings lines, with no performance background at all. And I have seen dogs from performance parents that were soft as butter with sound/ noise sensitivity. We know that dogs do not always breed true, but good disposition bred to good deposition stacks the genetic cards in the prospective agility owners’ favor. Sound issues seem to crop up unexpectedly.
The biggest disposition misunderstanding I would like to address is “Biddable”. I am seeing over the top youngsters of several breeds sold as agility prospects to unsuspecting clients, simply because they are very wild and hard to handle. (Shelties, Aussies, Border Collies, and Labs) This is a big temperament mistake. Agility dogs need to be team players, able to stay calm under stress. “Biddable” is an old term, but an apt one. The youngster needs to have a lot of manageability, in modern words, “Pack drive”. Pack drive needs to be balanced with “Prey drive”, too much “Prey drive” gives you a dog that forgets the rules of team playing under show stress.
I have a sheltie overbalanced in the prey drive department. He is a wonderful, smart, fantastic, high prey drive dog, but as I fondly say “Not a public team player.” “Ivan” is retired from any thing but fun matches and teaching students’ honest handling. Whenever I see shelties that careen around the course, barking at their handlers, leaping off the equipment, I know its possible I am not seeing a bad trainer, but possible a dog with not enough biddability bred in. (Three shelties competing locally come to mind as I write this.)
When considering a youngster, do not be in a rush to take home a puppy under twelve or fourteen weeks of age. All previous written advice in the 70’s and 80’s has advised the opposite. We were encouraged to take puppies home at six, seven and eight weeks. “So they bond to us”. I have never taken a sheltie home that did not want to bond, no matter the age. If we still believe that old myth why do so many nice agility dogs come from rescue?
Keeping youngsters in the puppy pen for a few extra weeks does no harm: they learn dog manners, and grow up just a bit. Sheltie babies are such babies at ten weeks. Constantly I advise people that a fifteen week show grow out youngster can be the best possible agility or pet pick, they have had lots of attention, are ready to learn, and the temperament is more on display.
Since the biggest issue that arises in agility shelties is stuff and noise sensitivity, I want to test puppies when they have a little more brains under that cute fluff. I like to test after twelve weeks, I am not sure that results with a tippy board under ten or twelve weeks are accurate. This is just based on working puppies and having a puppy or two that did well at eight weeks, which did not test so well, or poorly at seventeen weeks.
So one fine day I get out my baby tippy board, and sit down next to the puppy pen with a pot of cream cheese mixed with liver paste, or something equally yummy and great.
The tippy board is on concrete, not carpet. I want just a little startle action and sound. I note how well the youngster adapts to the board; does the food overweigh their fears? I work for about three minutes. The best-case scenario is in which the puppy gets more and more confident. Second best is being hesitant but not throwing a fit. Doing the board twice and throwing a total fit at the handler most likely indicates a sound/motion issue.
I do the test next to the puppy pen and keep an eye on which puppy in the pen thinks it looks like fun, and wants to come out and try. That’s a great choice for a team-playing dog. The puppy that runs from the sound and hides in the far corner is not a good choice.
I play with the puppies, on the board, with hand toys and cuddles and am generous with the liver paste. The tippy board means the puppy gets hugs, pets, cool treats, hand toys; and I, the trainer, made all that fun happen.
Several breeders of my acquaintance leave tippy toys in the pen for puppies to climb over at an early age and get used to motion. This is a great strategy, toy wagons, tables, tires on ropes; all we need is an action agility figure too! The only thing I would not leave in the pen is the two-foot tippy board that is used to test. It is a test object. One of the most important features of the test is checking the puppies’ willingness to get over their fear of new stuff for the trainer.
After testing the puppies, I go have tea for 30 minutes and leave the youngsters alone in the pen.
After thirty minutes or so I return and test again. The second time I do this I watch for willingness to approach the board, willingness to work for me. Willing to work for me is the big thing I want to see, if the puppy is nervous about the tippy board, but willing to keep trying I give them a lot of points. This may not be the high drive demon sheltie of your Agility dreams, but this could be the dog that runs consistently and is a great team player.
The best agility puppy prospect runs out of the pen, over to the tippy board stands on it, and wants food. (Yes I have seen this; Rik turned into the star of my DVD Training the Agility Teeter for the Small and Medium Dog because he did just that. He is high drive, no fear dog.)
Any puppy that agrees to return to the board and work it for liver paste and cream cheese is most likely a good agility candidate. The teeter is the hardest obstacle for shelties, it moves, it makes a lot of noise and it’s just scary. Strong teeter skills require a dog with minimal sound/motion issues.
If I
have time, I test a third time. The strong prospects trot over the board
and are ready for a bigger, ten foot Tee board.
If several puppies past the tippy board test, and strike your eye as nice puppies, then its time to look at body structure. Over the past several years the importance of structure on a dog has been driven home in the agility world. All the trainers I talk with swear that structure moved up the list of important considerations in their next dog. For shelties to do agility easily, the dogs need a nice long neck, a good front, and longer legs. Agility shelties must be able to run hard, with forward motion, jump, and stand up to hard work.
Given my choice of youngsters that present the same on the tippy board, I would favor the lighter, less boned, less deep shouldered dog with a longer leg. This comes from personal experience, my two master shelties are deep and heavy across the chest, and I get tired of being beaten by lighter boned, longer leg shelties that can run faster.
Lets look at some test puppies, about 12 weeks. (That’s what Barb A had for me to test, so that’s what I used.)
Big puppy went first. He did not like the Tippy board and did a complete work shut down, not a paw move for free. Cheese and cuddles warmed him up. He got calmer in three minutes. Test two I expected him to refuse, but he showed great willingness to work for P. butter on the cheese, tolerated me rocking the board while he was on it. Refused to move off the tippy board when he realized that was where the P. butter happened. He was dubbed Contact king. When I tested him a week later, he ran over to the board, hit it with a paw and agreed to work, plus stand on the board while I rocked it up and down hard. Nice team player.
Puppy two, medium puppy thought entire tippy board idea was bad, tried to distract me into petting parties. Seemed to get into the game after three minutes, offered me some nice behavior for cheese. Seemed to settle down and work the board. On the second test session she threw a fit at the sight of the board, not persuaded by P. butter and cheddar cheese, demanded hugs and pets, very reluctant to stand on the board. Worked reluctantly after five minutes of attention. Next week, same thing, she did the tippy after much pleasant persuasion, not eager at all.
Puppy three, the puppy with a plain face, had been watching through the pen walls. This puppy offered me lots of behavior on the tippy board for cheese, while wagging tail and being the most interactive. Standing on the board was no problem, sound fears overcome by cheese. Second test offered to run over to board and put a paw on it before being asked. This puppy was very willing to do entire tippy board slowly for P. Butter. Started to play with me on the board, nose bop games. Did not mind rocking tippy board at all. Appeared very confidant and relaxed compared to the other two puppies. The next week, was working the tippy fast and hard for cheese, ready to move onto ten-foot board. This was a fun, cuddly, hard working puppy.
My picks and reasons.
Big puppy number one started slow but came on strong over the run of tests. At the beginning I was impatient with his refusal to move or interact, in the second test I saw he was going to think about it before he committed himself. Once he was committed, he stayed committed. One week later this was a great team dog, worked hard and ignored the sound and motion of the tippy. He showed to be a solid working puppy. ( I called him “Rhett”, ( “Frankly I don’t give a Damm.”)) This kind of puppy can be a joy to run at shows, they just show up, sit up and show, bless them.
Puppy two would most likely need a lot of handler work to get strong teeter skills. She would work for me, but it took a lot of handler persistence/tons of cheese. She was not really bothered by the tippy, just not motivated enough to work hard. Her motto, “Cuddles may work to distract the handler”.
Puppy three was a great Agility pick. Her motto was “You got cheese, bring it on.” I loved the cheerful tail wag through all the tests, this was going to be an easy dog to “read” around a course. I have one of these cheerful dogs, running her is such fun. “Kells” has a fan club even when she loses. Get a puppy like this and you don’t care if you lose, but the odds are good you will win.
I
created the tippy board test to give me a fast way to see temperament on
youngsters that may be considered for agility, its not a definite test,
no test is, but it’s a great guideline for quick testing. I have seen
puppies that did poorly on the tippy still go on to run agility, but
usually not in a fast/ flashy way.
Dogs are quirky, but handlers need to have something other than a
pretty face to go on when picking a youngster, ten years with the wrong
agility partner is a long time. Dogs live up to both the breeding and
the training. It helps to start out with the disposition you like and
need for your agility goals.
Now you have your prospect, time to go home and have fun.
Stay
tuned for part two, “Now I have my Agility Puppy Home, What do I do
Next?” part two of the Choosing and Training the Agility
Prospect Articles.
Justine Merrill is the Dog Lady of Forest Grove, www.justineleo.net. Her DVD, Training the Agility Tee for the Small and Medium Dog is available on her website.
I am deeply in dept to Barbara Aulbach of Caledon Kennels for allowing me incredible access to her dogs over the past five years. (Barb can I borrow this one for a week or so?) These articles would not be possible if she did not let me borrow puppies for study, play and filming DVD’s.