Training Fido to Perform Agility Equipment - The Pause Table
Although the pause table seems to be a very easy obstacle to perform, it is not.
The pause table is probably the one obstacle where the most time is lost during a course run.
The table is included on a course to demonstrate that an agility dog can not only run fast and perform spectacular obstacles, but that he can also be controlled in a stay position at a certain place.
Here follows a few reasons for the poor table performance of an agility dog: 1.
Handlers tend to think it is an easy obstacle to perform and therefor it is not practised enough.
2.
Handlers find it boring and carry that over to the dog.
3.
It is not taught correctly and thoroughly to the dog.
How to teach the pause table to the dog: Wherever possible I always break the commands down to the simplest forms and then, once the dog can reliably perform each segment correctly and fast, chain it back up together.
The table command is no different.
Your ultimate aim with the table command is that you should be able to send the dog to the table from anywhere on the course, the dog should jump on the table and immediately go into the down or sit position (whatever is required by the judge) and remain in that position until released.
In other words you can break the table performance into the following four things: 1.
Send to the table - the dog runs enthusiastically to the table and jump onto the table You will need to be able to send your dog to the table from any position on the course and from any distance.
Start your training with your dog on lead.
Have your clicker ready and have enough treats ready.
At this point you should only be a few feet from the table.
Also remember not to give any verbal commands at this point.
Encourage your dog to jump on the table.
Click the moment his feet are on the table, treat and give lots of praise.
Let him jump off and repeat this procedure a couple of times.
It is very important to keep it fun and to make a game out of it.
Your dog must learn to love the table.
Do not at this point be tempted to let your dog sit or down on the table.
That will only kill his enthusiasm.
Enjoy a short play break with your dog and repeat the whole procedure again.
During the following training sessions you can increase the distance from the table from where you run with your dog to the table, but only a few feet at a time.
You can have him off lead now, but if he runs off or stops to sniff around, put him back on the lead.
He should by now enjoy the table game.
Run with him from different positions on the course.
Remember to click and treat when he gets on the table.
You can at this point start to add the verbal command "table" or whatever word your choose.
Just be consistent.
The next step in training the send to the table is to ask a friend to help.
Ask your friend to stand behind the table.
You should start this step of the training again from only a few feet away from the table.
Let you friend show your dog a treat and then putting it on the table.
Give your dog the table command and let him jump on the table, click and let him have the treat.
The first couple of times you can still step towards the table with your dog.
Then test your dog and see if he will go on his own.
He should, because by now he knows that there is a treat waiting for him.
Remember your dog is only allowed to jump on the table from the front, else he will be penalised.
If he jumps on from the sides or back, your friend should grab the treat before the dog can get to it.
You can now start to increase the distance from the table again, but only a few feet at a time.
Do not make it too difficult for your dog.
If, at any stage, you do not get reliable performance or at least progress from your dog, you should back up a few steps.
Once your dog reliably runs to the table from anywhere and from any distance, you can add an obstacle between the point from where you send him and the table.
Start with a jump or maybe the tunnel.
Now it is also time to take away the treat from the table.
This should be done in a variable manner.
You should still click and treat, but your friend only puts the treat on the table randomly.
If you have followed these guidelines, your dog would now be ready to be trained the whole chained performance, provided you have also finished the training of the other parts of the chain.
2.
Fast sit or down - the dog performs an immediate fast sit or down on command This part of the chain, as well as the following two parts, are trained away from the table.
In fact it should be trained away from the agility course as a whole.
Again, get your clicker and treats ready.
I would suggest that you have you dog off lead, assuming you have control over him and also that he can already perform the sit and down commands.
If not, that should be trained first.
This step is only to train your dog to perform the sit and down very fast.
The sit and down works exactly the same, so I will only talk about the down command, since it is just a little bit more difficult.
Practice the sit and down commands in different training sessions.
With your dog in front of you, or next to you, give the down command, while at the same time luring your dog with a treat into the down position.
The luring action should be a fast downward movement of your hand.
Click and treat the moment the dog goes into the down position.
Repeat this several times.
Start clicking only for very fast downs.
If your dog does not perform the down fast enough, give a no-reward marker and try again.
A no-reward marker is just a word you say like "sorry" or "wrong".
Your dog will learn that when you say that word, he will not be treated.
Do not punish your dog.
Once your dog reliably performs a fast down from a stationary position, you can add some action.
Let him walk with you, not necessary for an obedience heel, but he should be close to you.
Then all of a sudden, give a fast down command, with a fast downward motion of your hand.
Click and treat for a fast down.
Repeat this exercise many times, making a game out of it.
You can also start running with your dog next to you and doing the same thing.
When your dog reliably performs a very fast down from a stationary position, a walking or running position, you can now start to reduce your own downward motion.
Your aim is that you want the same reliable performance from your dog from only a hand signal or verbal command.
Make sure to practise this every day and do not try to progress too fast.
You will later on in your dog's agility career be very pleased if you took the time to lay a solid foundation.
If you have followed these guidelines, your dog would now be ready to be trained the whole chained performance, provided you have also finished the training of the other parts of the chain.
3.
Secure stay - the dog performs a secure stay, not moving from that position The agility stay differs somewhat from the obedience stay.
In the obedience stay you always return to your dog before the exercise is finished.
In agility the stay is broken the moment you give a release command, and that can be from anywhere on the course.
The release command can be any word or phrase you choose, but as with all commands, should be used consistently.
Normally, while the dog is on the table, you will position yourself at the next obstacle.
If you also want to take part in obedience competitions, I suggest you use two different commands for the two different stays, so the dog does not get confused.
The agility stay is not just performed on the table, but can also be performed at the start line, although it is not necessary.
The reason I mention this is to emphasise the fact that you should not just expect and train your dog to stay for five seconds.
You might want him to stay much longer than five counts at the start line, while you position yourself on the course.
Always vary the duration of the stay during training sessions even up to two to five minutes.
You really need a solid stay from your dog.
It is especially important that you do not try to progress too fast with this command.
You need to set your dog up for success.
If you increase the duration of the stay or the distance away from your dog too fast, your dog will break his stay, and that can very easily become a habit.
It is very important that you do not take your eye off of your dog, not even for one second.
When you start to train the agility stay, you should approach it exactly the same as you would the obedience stay.
Put your dog in either the sit or down position.
Give the stay command and give one step away.
Immediately step back and click and treat.
Break the stay.
Repeat the exercise many times before you increase the duration with only a few seconds.
While increasing the duration, keep the distance from the dog constant.
I would strongly suggest that you first increase the duration and with the distance constant, and not the other way around.
Once you get reliable stay from your dog for about two minutes, you can also, in a separate training session, start increasing the distance from the dog.
You do that by just moving away a few more steps and immediately returning to your dog.
With this further distance from your dog, you now again start to work on the duration for that distance.
You repeat the whole procedure again every time you increase the distance.
You now have a very reliable stay from your dog.
But what will happen if you put him in a stay, and you run away from him? I ask that question, because that is exactly what is going to happen on a course.
On the course everything happens fast, and while the judge counts to five, you want to position yourself at the next obstacle and be ready.
Therefor you need to train your dog to stay even when you run away from him.
You train him to do that by just moving away faster every time, and only a few steps at first, repeating the stay command as you move away.
4.
Release - the dog performs a fast release and immediately following your hand and body to perform the next obstacle You can train the first three steps simultaneously in different training sessions.
This last step, the release should only be trained once the dog has a very reliable stay, even when you run away from him.
With the training of this step or command it is important to be variable in both the duration of the stay and the distance from the dog.
Put the dog in either the sit or down stay.
Move away from the dog, keep an outstretched hand as a stay signal, keeping an eye on the dog at all times.
Wait a few seconds, give the release command, which can be a word like "okay", drop your hand and encourage your dog to come to you.
Click and treat the moment he comes to you, but never if he breaks the stay before you gave the command.
Repeat the above, but vary the duration and the distance.
Remember, never to drop your hand before the release command, because the dog will take that as a cue.
Also do not release him every time.
At least four out of every ten times you should go back to your dog and praise him for staying.
Click and treat if you use clicker training.
If you do not do this, your dog might get into a habit of breaking his stays.
If you teach these four steps separately and chain them together later you will get a better, faster and more reliable table performance from your agility dog.
Chaining the commands together Your dog is now ready and you can start putting things together again.
I would suggest that you use back chaining, but you actually start in the middle.
Take your dog to the course where you must have three obstacles arranged in a triangle.
You can have a jump, the table and the tunnel.
Let your dog jump on the table and let him sit or down on the table.
Give the stay command, move away to the tunnel with your hand outstretched, wait a few seconds and release.
Click as he jumps off, let him run through the tunnel and give a treat.
Repeat many times.
Sometimes you should wait at the jump.
At another training session you should send the dog to the table and as he jumps on, give the sit or down command.
Click and treat if he responds.
Also give the stay command.
Click and treat him on the table as he stays there.
You have now reduced the four steps into two steps.
Now at last you can combine these two steps to have only one flowing sequence.
If your dog experience difficulty in grasping this whole sequence, you should back up a few steps and progress slower.
Following these step by step guidelines of training your dog to perform the pause table, you will end up with a very reliable and confident dog knowing exactly what is expected of him.
The pause table is probably the one obstacle where the most time is lost during a course run.
The table is included on a course to demonstrate that an agility dog can not only run fast and perform spectacular obstacles, but that he can also be controlled in a stay position at a certain place.
Here follows a few reasons for the poor table performance of an agility dog: 1.
Handlers tend to think it is an easy obstacle to perform and therefor it is not practised enough.
2.
Handlers find it boring and carry that over to the dog.
3.
It is not taught correctly and thoroughly to the dog.
How to teach the pause table to the dog: Wherever possible I always break the commands down to the simplest forms and then, once the dog can reliably perform each segment correctly and fast, chain it back up together.
The table command is no different.
Your ultimate aim with the table command is that you should be able to send the dog to the table from anywhere on the course, the dog should jump on the table and immediately go into the down or sit position (whatever is required by the judge) and remain in that position until released.
In other words you can break the table performance into the following four things: 1.
Send to the table - the dog runs enthusiastically to the table and jump onto the table You will need to be able to send your dog to the table from any position on the course and from any distance.
Start your training with your dog on lead.
Have your clicker ready and have enough treats ready.
At this point you should only be a few feet from the table.
Also remember not to give any verbal commands at this point.
Encourage your dog to jump on the table.
Click the moment his feet are on the table, treat and give lots of praise.
Let him jump off and repeat this procedure a couple of times.
It is very important to keep it fun and to make a game out of it.
Your dog must learn to love the table.
Do not at this point be tempted to let your dog sit or down on the table.
That will only kill his enthusiasm.
Enjoy a short play break with your dog and repeat the whole procedure again.
During the following training sessions you can increase the distance from the table from where you run with your dog to the table, but only a few feet at a time.
You can have him off lead now, but if he runs off or stops to sniff around, put him back on the lead.
He should by now enjoy the table game.
Run with him from different positions on the course.
Remember to click and treat when he gets on the table.
You can at this point start to add the verbal command "table" or whatever word your choose.
Just be consistent.
The next step in training the send to the table is to ask a friend to help.
Ask your friend to stand behind the table.
You should start this step of the training again from only a few feet away from the table.
Let you friend show your dog a treat and then putting it on the table.
Give your dog the table command and let him jump on the table, click and let him have the treat.
The first couple of times you can still step towards the table with your dog.
Then test your dog and see if he will go on his own.
He should, because by now he knows that there is a treat waiting for him.
Remember your dog is only allowed to jump on the table from the front, else he will be penalised.
If he jumps on from the sides or back, your friend should grab the treat before the dog can get to it.
You can now start to increase the distance from the table again, but only a few feet at a time.
Do not make it too difficult for your dog.
If, at any stage, you do not get reliable performance or at least progress from your dog, you should back up a few steps.
Once your dog reliably runs to the table from anywhere and from any distance, you can add an obstacle between the point from where you send him and the table.
Start with a jump or maybe the tunnel.
Now it is also time to take away the treat from the table.
This should be done in a variable manner.
You should still click and treat, but your friend only puts the treat on the table randomly.
If you have followed these guidelines, your dog would now be ready to be trained the whole chained performance, provided you have also finished the training of the other parts of the chain.
2.
Fast sit or down - the dog performs an immediate fast sit or down on command This part of the chain, as well as the following two parts, are trained away from the table.
In fact it should be trained away from the agility course as a whole.
Again, get your clicker and treats ready.
I would suggest that you have you dog off lead, assuming you have control over him and also that he can already perform the sit and down commands.
If not, that should be trained first.
This step is only to train your dog to perform the sit and down very fast.
The sit and down works exactly the same, so I will only talk about the down command, since it is just a little bit more difficult.
Practice the sit and down commands in different training sessions.
With your dog in front of you, or next to you, give the down command, while at the same time luring your dog with a treat into the down position.
The luring action should be a fast downward movement of your hand.
Click and treat the moment the dog goes into the down position.
Repeat this several times.
Start clicking only for very fast downs.
If your dog does not perform the down fast enough, give a no-reward marker and try again.
A no-reward marker is just a word you say like "sorry" or "wrong".
Your dog will learn that when you say that word, he will not be treated.
Do not punish your dog.
Once your dog reliably performs a fast down from a stationary position, you can add some action.
Let him walk with you, not necessary for an obedience heel, but he should be close to you.
Then all of a sudden, give a fast down command, with a fast downward motion of your hand.
Click and treat for a fast down.
Repeat this exercise many times, making a game out of it.
You can also start running with your dog next to you and doing the same thing.
When your dog reliably performs a very fast down from a stationary position, a walking or running position, you can now start to reduce your own downward motion.
Your aim is that you want the same reliable performance from your dog from only a hand signal or verbal command.
Make sure to practise this every day and do not try to progress too fast.
You will later on in your dog's agility career be very pleased if you took the time to lay a solid foundation.
If you have followed these guidelines, your dog would now be ready to be trained the whole chained performance, provided you have also finished the training of the other parts of the chain.
3.
Secure stay - the dog performs a secure stay, not moving from that position The agility stay differs somewhat from the obedience stay.
In the obedience stay you always return to your dog before the exercise is finished.
In agility the stay is broken the moment you give a release command, and that can be from anywhere on the course.
The release command can be any word or phrase you choose, but as with all commands, should be used consistently.
Normally, while the dog is on the table, you will position yourself at the next obstacle.
If you also want to take part in obedience competitions, I suggest you use two different commands for the two different stays, so the dog does not get confused.
The agility stay is not just performed on the table, but can also be performed at the start line, although it is not necessary.
The reason I mention this is to emphasise the fact that you should not just expect and train your dog to stay for five seconds.
You might want him to stay much longer than five counts at the start line, while you position yourself on the course.
Always vary the duration of the stay during training sessions even up to two to five minutes.
You really need a solid stay from your dog.
It is especially important that you do not try to progress too fast with this command.
You need to set your dog up for success.
If you increase the duration of the stay or the distance away from your dog too fast, your dog will break his stay, and that can very easily become a habit.
It is very important that you do not take your eye off of your dog, not even for one second.
When you start to train the agility stay, you should approach it exactly the same as you would the obedience stay.
Put your dog in either the sit or down position.
Give the stay command and give one step away.
Immediately step back and click and treat.
Break the stay.
Repeat the exercise many times before you increase the duration with only a few seconds.
While increasing the duration, keep the distance from the dog constant.
I would strongly suggest that you first increase the duration and with the distance constant, and not the other way around.
Once you get reliable stay from your dog for about two minutes, you can also, in a separate training session, start increasing the distance from the dog.
You do that by just moving away a few more steps and immediately returning to your dog.
With this further distance from your dog, you now again start to work on the duration for that distance.
You repeat the whole procedure again every time you increase the distance.
You now have a very reliable stay from your dog.
But what will happen if you put him in a stay, and you run away from him? I ask that question, because that is exactly what is going to happen on a course.
On the course everything happens fast, and while the judge counts to five, you want to position yourself at the next obstacle and be ready.
Therefor you need to train your dog to stay even when you run away from him.
You train him to do that by just moving away faster every time, and only a few steps at first, repeating the stay command as you move away.
4.
Release - the dog performs a fast release and immediately following your hand and body to perform the next obstacle You can train the first three steps simultaneously in different training sessions.
This last step, the release should only be trained once the dog has a very reliable stay, even when you run away from him.
With the training of this step or command it is important to be variable in both the duration of the stay and the distance from the dog.
Put the dog in either the sit or down stay.
Move away from the dog, keep an outstretched hand as a stay signal, keeping an eye on the dog at all times.
Wait a few seconds, give the release command, which can be a word like "okay", drop your hand and encourage your dog to come to you.
Click and treat the moment he comes to you, but never if he breaks the stay before you gave the command.
Repeat the above, but vary the duration and the distance.
Remember, never to drop your hand before the release command, because the dog will take that as a cue.
Also do not release him every time.
At least four out of every ten times you should go back to your dog and praise him for staying.
Click and treat if you use clicker training.
If you do not do this, your dog might get into a habit of breaking his stays.
If you teach these four steps separately and chain them together later you will get a better, faster and more reliable table performance from your agility dog.
Chaining the commands together Your dog is now ready and you can start putting things together again.
I would suggest that you use back chaining, but you actually start in the middle.
Take your dog to the course where you must have three obstacles arranged in a triangle.
You can have a jump, the table and the tunnel.
Let your dog jump on the table and let him sit or down on the table.
Give the stay command, move away to the tunnel with your hand outstretched, wait a few seconds and release.
Click as he jumps off, let him run through the tunnel and give a treat.
Repeat many times.
Sometimes you should wait at the jump.
At another training session you should send the dog to the table and as he jumps on, give the sit or down command.
Click and treat if he responds.
Also give the stay command.
Click and treat him on the table as he stays there.
You have now reduced the four steps into two steps.
Now at last you can combine these two steps to have only one flowing sequence.
If your dog experience difficulty in grasping this whole sequence, you should back up a few steps and progress slower.
Following these step by step guidelines of training your dog to perform the pause table, you will end up with a very reliable and confident dog knowing exactly what is expected of him.
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