Table Command Theory in Dog Training

Series Summary

Teaching your dog or puppy basic obedience commands can be a tricky feat, but the reward of a happy, healthy pet makes it well worth the time and effort it takes to train a dog. Learning how to stay, sit, and heel are important for both you and your dogs happiness and safety. There are many variations and theories on how to train a dog, but most professional dog trainers will tell you to reward good behavior and negatively reinforce bad behavior. Of course this can be more difficult than it sounds. Many people may end up unknowingly enforcing the bad behavior instead of the good, but with a little effort and knowledge of how a dog learns, even you can teach your dog basic obedience commands. One command that many people would like their dogs to understand is the table command. This command will teach a dog to jump on a table, generally a three-by-three foot platform. In this free video series, a dog trainer will teach you how to give a dog the table command, and how to get results from the command. You'll learn when to use this command, how to alert a dog to compete, and how to plan for a safe landing. You'll also learn how to position a dog and how to master the table agility technique. With these tips, your dog will get increased agility and be more prepared to enter into a competition.

Video Transcript

"Hello, I am Dustin Mark Siebel with Doggie Steps dog training out of Phoenix, Arizona. In this next segment we're going to be talking about the agility table command and how it came about and its theory. In the numerous agility obstacles, the table is one of the most challenging. It is going to require your dog to jump on a table, generally a three foot by three foot platform. It will require your dog to go in a down stay or pause position, for up to five seconds. Many herding, sporting, working dogs, after the proper training, have no problem doing a down stay but in the heat of competition, when they are extremely excited, a table down stay can be challenging. As far as technique and level of difficulty, it may not be the hardest command to execute but to finalize a five second pause stay, will be the trickiest part of this obstacle."