Clean Run Magazine - June 2009 - 82

Do your homework on the flat and overprepare your dog for anything he might see in a trial. Your job is to make the table a place your dog perceives as a positive activity and not just a stagnant place to wait. I believe that when you give the table the training it deserves, just like you do for contacts or weaves, then you will be pleased with your dog’s table performance for his entire career. An even more advanced drill is for the handler to throw a treat away from the dog as the dog is assuming position. You can use toys too: roll a ball by as the dog is on the towel. Maintaining position earns the dog a release to the toy. After this work on the flat, getting on a table and assuming a position is pretty easy. Try this warm-up drill in all class levels. Handlers line up. Paper towels are placed 15' away; on the count of three, handlers run to their own paper towel, have the dog Down, and the handlers continue to run to the wall beyond. The first handler to touch the wall while the dog maintains position wins. This teaches a reliable down/sit with the dog maintaining position and does not depend on the handler’s activity for the position or the stay. Since it is a race game teams are a bit jazzed and it really gives handlers confidence that their dogs can maintain position as they run away. Again, if a dog is unable to do these drills, then do the work on the flat before attempting it on the table. Putting It All Together on the Table After the dog has been introduced to the table and is comfortable and reliable in changing position on cue, you are going to put it all together. Place the table top flat on the ground with a paper towel on top. Go through the steps outlined above with the paper towel. Be sure to include the final step where you run to the table and move beyond, and the dog takes and maintains position. Because the dog understands how to collect from a run and take a position on a specified spot, this step is easy. Slowly raise the table to full height while repeating the progression and rewarding the dog for getting on the table and taking the desired position as you move beyond. Don’t forget to include the delayed gratification work on the actual table so the dog does not always expect a treat or toy on the table. Short Sequences with the Table When your dog can collect, change position on the table, take a position as you move away, and do short sends to the table, it’s time to introduce other obstacles before and after the table. When introducing obstacles before and after, review your flatwork. Put a jump before and after the table. Get a pocketful of food. Ask the dog to do a low jump and ask for the table. You may move beyond, return and reward, ask for change of position, and then finally release to the jump beyond. Take your time reinforcing the table before adding speed to the drill. Then perfect it at speed. Make the pause on the table about variety, not always about simply waiting 5 seconds. Remember the food dish and how tempting it was sitting on the ground next to you? A tunnel may well seem the same to the dog the first time he sees the table/tunnel combination. Walk to the table and have the dog take a position and reward. Move beyond, touch the tunnel, and reinforce the dog for not moving. Run to the tunnel, reinforce the dog for not moving, and finally release to the tunnel. Give the table its own value by rewarding and drilling it often. Other sequences to practice include: spread jump/table/tire; jump/table/tunnel; jump/table/chute; chute/table/tunnel; speed circle of jumps and one table; and speed circle of several tunnels and a table. Overprepare! Do your homework on the flat and overprepare your dog for anything he might see in a trial. Your job is to make the table a place your dog perceives as a positive activity and not just a stagnant place to wait. I believe that when you give the table the training it deserves, just like you do for contacts or weaves, then you will be pleased with your dog’s table performance for his entire career. D Debbie Sacerich is a social worker in real life, but dog training and agility are her true love. The agility training director at Cleveland All Breed Training Club since 1994, she teaches agility at both CABTC and Canine University, and presents agility seminars. She has a special place in her heart for rescues and is proud of her current dogs: MACH2 ADCH Quick CDX EF and Bright MX MXJ EF. Her past dogs include ADCH Buddy MX, MXJ, Jewel, AmUDT CanUD, and Ch. Dare CDX, TD, the only non-rescue in the group. Sundae understands that to get her favorite Frisbee she needs to maintain position until released. And she does. 82 Pete allowed his handler to place three pieces of cheese on the table while he sits at her signal. He willingly complies with Head Down while he ignores the food on the table. He got to eat all three pieces! Clean Run | June 09

Clean Run Magazine - June 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - June 2009