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Training
the Pause Table - Part 2
Send to
the Table
By MS du Toit
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 penalized. 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.
MS
du Toit has been training dogs for ten years.
Please visit her Dog
Training Review Page.
Back to Top
Continue to Part 3 of the series: Fast
sit or down
Back to Part 2: General Overview
of Pause Table Training
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