Use the Table for Dog Agility Training

Video Transcript

" Hi! This is Elise Paffrath with Breeze Thru Agility. I am talking about dog agility training on behalf of Expert Village.com. I like to train the table obstacle, and lay a good foundation of the dog enjoying getting on the table. The hardest part of training the table is the dog actually has to stop all activity and not run around for five seconds. The dog is required to sit her down on the table while the judge counts five, four, three, two, one, go. Before I teach the dog to do a down on the table, I would like to make sure they have a very good down on the ground. Scoutie, down. So she has got a good down on the ground. Now I am going to ask her to jump up on the table and down on the table. Scouty ready. Okay. Table. Down. I am going to reward her on the table for doing the performance. Another important part about the table is the dog must stay there until the handler releases them. They are going to be very eager to go to the next obstacle, so you need to make sure that you release them before they leave the table top. Okay, good girl. Before you ask the dog to actually do a sit her down on the table, you want them to be comfortable getting up on the table. So what I like to do is just ask the dog to jump on the table and I am going to just reward that with no sit or down. Ready, Okay. Good dog. Okay. It is not important to add a word until the dog is very comfortable with the obstacle. At that point you can decide what you want to call it."