Table Training - Page 2

Ah, the age old topic of table training. Well here is my take and experience........

Every dog I have ever trained or will train will be on the table at some point. The table is (from an agitation standpoint) one of the most useful of tools. Steve is correct in that to try and explain the table on a board is impossible. As far as Gene being the inventor of it, I do not know. I know he was one of the first promoted it quite a bit. There was a guy named Brian Mowry, some of you may have heard of him, (not sarcasim because Brian was THE MAN on the west coast as far as police dog training goes) who was the "godfather of table training" on the west coast at about the same time.

Brian worked as a sales rep for Tri-Tronics back in the day. He used to travel around the country giving e-collar seminars and promoting Tri-Tronics collars. How I understand it is he developed his use of the table from watching guys down in the deep south back tie dogs in the bed of pick-up trucks. Brian taught a guy named Greg, who taught a guy named, Luciallno, who taught a guy named Get a Real Dog.

In a nut-shell, I use the table primarily to promote suspicion, fight drive and to "channel" a dog between drives. The end result is a very balanced dog. It can be used for a mulitude of things but to try to explain and keep it simple I will touch on this area and idea only.

The table is elevated, with a pole going through the center. The chain is attached to the dogs harness. This limits the dogs movements. In essence it limits the dogs options so they have to engage the decoy, they have to fight. Flight is not an option.

You can raise a dogs suspicion by stalking it. Going around behind the dog. With the dog elevated, you can present the threat from a crouched position. For a new or weaker dog, this gives the dog confidence in that he is over the decoy. As the dog gains confidence, you bring more and more pressure upon the dog but, as always, the dog ends victorious. It is the same as grooming a fighter. With every fight, you increase the talent of the opposing fighter. With each successful victory, the fighter gains confidence and the psycology of he can not be defeated.

One the table, the decoy knows exactly how far the dog can go. There is no possibility of the hander slipping, or putting slack in the line. You can literaly come within inches of the dogs face. As we know with dogs, the pressure comes from the decoys face and upper body. You can literaly come within inches of the dogs face. Mano on Canine.

Con't

That was a very limited explenation of the concept of working the dog in fight drive. You gradually increase that pressure, eventually taking the dog to the brink of avoidance, but always leaving him with the win. Every time you take the dog there, and they win, you increase the threashold of the dogs breaking point, building a dog that will be able to withstand an extreme amount of pressure.

Now to channeling and I think the real strong point of the table.......

Say you have a prey monster. You begin by working that dog in prey. But as stated before, the dog does not have the option of flight. You stalk the dog, increasing his/her suspcion. Then increase the pressure and hit that prey-to prey aggression, prey aggression, turns to fight, which can be turned into defense.

This cycle can be played in reverse with a defense oriented dog. You can take the defense oriented dog, and gradually work them into prey mode. Once the prey or defense oriented dog becomes aware and confident fighting in these various drives; You can hop scotch all over the board, again ending up with a dog that is very nicely balanced and confident in working through various levels of stress in each drive.

There is quite a few out there who think this is a big pile of horseshit. I have worked the table ALOT. I have seen dogs that showed very little fight or aggression turn into monsters. I have seen snarling, teeth baring dogs turn into prey mongers. I have seen it time and time again and fully believe in this type of training.

The negative aspects of this is

1)  There are people out there who use this to "test" a dog and ultimatley break them. There was a guy out here in my area that did this quite a bit.

2) You can open Pandora's Box so to speak. You can bring out the devil in a dog when a handler does not want, understand, or know how to deal with it.

3) There are people out there who push this into abuse trying to bring something out in a dog that genetically is not there, creating a dangerous animal.

What is paramount to table training......IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO READ A DOG, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS PUTTING IT ON A TABLE.

http://advancecanine.com/gene.html

Tiffae89:  Here is the link to Gene Englands site. His wife is Verice and just email them and I'm sure they will talk to you and give you the info you are wanting to know.... I'm sure it seems strange finding another   Gene England, but not uncommon  in todays world of people with the same name...There a thousands of Jan Johnsons.......a common one....

YR

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WOW Steve that was a good read .. thanks for posting it.

Although in Chattanooga I think I would have prefered Jan and Dean "dead mans curve"  LOL  I thought of that right away reading .. must have been my 4 horse trailer loaded scarin' me .. I think that road is the only road I've ever been on that makes my dual wheels sway my truck in route.  No wonder they call it lookout mountains. Sceeery.  

I want to build a retrieve training table. Anybody have a good set of plans?

SS

Steve,

Can you teach dumbells on the long table or any of the tables?

Vickie

www.PowerHausKennels.com

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Thank you Steve for being so willing to help others.  You have so much knowledge to share and the ability to communicate effectively.

I am not all that coordinated and I found that limiting the options makes up for that shortcoming quite a bit.  It also settles all the back and forth between me and my dog.  Pharaoh is extremely smart and strong willed.  He is definitely not a starter dog.

I have been practicing turns using the narrow aisles at stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, Orchard Supply Hardware, Home Depot and a few other permissive stores.  (Where I live is Dog Heaven, I even bring him into the bank and to client offices)

Pharaoh never knows ahead of time which way I will go and he has stopped anticipating and is now paying attention to me and what I am doing next.  The narrow aisles are keeping him where he needs to be without much effort on my part.  Which is good, I need all the help I can get.

It makes sense to me that the tables would provide those advantages plus a whole lot more. 

Too bad you are in Florida.  Do you ever give seminars in California?

Michele and Pharaoh vom Banach

Steve thank you for sharing your knowledge. It was very informative.