Hi everyone, I'm hoping for some help or advice. We have going to agility classes since we turned one last march all has been going very well.Recently I have decided to be a little more competitive as it's always been a lot of fun and a social thing with my dogs. My problem is that woody has dedcided that he won't lie down on the table or in a box yet alone stay for 5 seconds, he has done this for months without any problem but now won't do it all. He has been like this for weeks and I'm a little baffled by his change and annoyed with his stubborness. What frustrates me more is his brother jack does it perfectly! any suggestions?

Thanks cam

What does he do when you try and get a down stay? Does he do this for you elsewhere and it's just the table that puts him off? what do you use for motivation? What do you do when he doesn't go down or doesn't stay?

He just sits and stares at me or shakes his paw. He won't do it anywhere else either, I used to practice when out and about and he would do it but not anymore. I used to use treats but he gets to focused on eating and not training so now I praise him with a fuss and up to now has responded much better. When he won't go into a down I walk away from him without praise.

I don't know anything about agility but something has obviously confused your dog. I would go right back to the start and re-train the down stay away from the agility area. I would use food treats again to first lure him into a down position and reward him with the treat when his still lying down. And just slowly build up on the time of the stay and also your position to the dog, i.e. you being able to walk away and around the dog while he is lying down. Once my dogs have learnt the down stay I will try and do silly little things like clapping my hands, singing or doing a little jig. It is quite difficult for the dogs to remain in the down stay when they see the change of energy in me. It could be something as simple as that what's confusing your dog, I don't think there is any stubborness involved. But like I said, I think you will need to train this separate from the rest of the agility run before you introduce it back into the exercise. 

I would wholly agree with the above about retraining away from the other agility equipment.  I do agility and you want a confident, fast, happy dog so anything that is proving a problem needs to be moved away from the other equipment and exercises. Can you ask your trainer if can miss the table out of exercises for the time being?

However, on a slightly different note, are you in the UK? Rules vary across the world and the table is used more frequently in the US. I have been competing in agility for nearly 14 years (UK) and have only once come across a table in the middle of a course and that was 11 years ago (pouring with rain that day, poor dog leapt on at high speed straight into a down and slid right off the other side!) .  I've seen it a couple of times as a start or finish for a gamblers but never a position being required on the table.  It used to be compulsory in KC Championship classes but was done away with because a manual 5 second count cannot be consistent and classes are being won, in some cases, by hundreds of a second.

Sharon

Sorry I was away and din't log back on to reply! Yes I agree with above, re-train right from scratch in the house, away from the agility equipment, then slowly work back up to it.

This is very common in the dog training world, I wouldn't stress over it just go back to basics :-)

P.S. also I've never seen a table used in KC agility events either??