In recent years more and more training clubs are using table training in bite work.

For many reasons I don't agree with table training. This article will list those reasons.

Table training is bad dog training. There are three kinds of people who use the table to protection train dogs:

Let's take a minute and explain exactly how table training works. Two tables are used. A three foot square table at waist-height and a shorter, larger round table closer to the floor. The dog is chained to the taller table by a short chain attached to a swivel that turns 360 degrees. When moved to the short table, the length of chain is increased. The tall table is used for the beginning work and the short table used for the control work.

Table training is founded in survival drive. Survival is the wrong way to train protection dogs. When a dog is placed up on a table and attached to a very short chain it quickly realizes that all avenues of escape have been removed. Initially the helper stresses the dog and demands attention and aggression. If the dog turns his back on the helper or does not act aggressive enough the level of stress is increased until the dog is brought into fight. The dog quickly learns that if I don't show aggression I get the crap scared out of me and the safest place to be is on the sleeve.

What people don't understand here is that the “fight drive” that they see in this work is coming totally from the “fight or flight” in avoidance. It does not come from the fight drive that I refer to that is built as a result of a confident foundation started and built through early prey work. If you are confused on the issue of fight drive read my article titled The Definition of Fight Drive.

I had a friend tell me of a Doberman he saw go through its first experience on the table. The dog had questionable nerves to begin with and probably could never do sport work. It was so scared and upset that it lost control of its bowels and bladder while the helper tried working it. As far as I am concerned this type of training is morally wrong. We have no right to stress a dog so badly that it loses control of its bowels. If a person needs a protection dog this badly he should find a home for his weak dog and go out and buy a dog better suited for this work.

In protection work, if the dog is exposed to enough stress at some point it will move into the part of defense where it must either fight or run from the threat. Table training removes the option of flight that the dog learned is his only option. When then happens is these dogs are fighting for their lives. If you understand dog training and know what's going on in the dog’s head this is not a pretty sight. On the other hand, novice trainers are impressed because of the intensity of the aggression that survival drive produces. They confuse the intensity of avoidance biting with confident fight drive biting.