Al, unless the decoy runs circles around the table chasing the dog that's avoiding the decoy... much like chasing a dog around a post that's tied to a post, then the dog can still avoid the fight, he's just on a shorter line, but still has movement 360* around the table.
That said, I don't know enough about table training to have an opinion other than basing it on Ed F's article that I linked above -- but I have heard table training described differently too, so the big :?: is "Which is right?". Obviously most people view table training the same way Mr Frawley does, as is witnessed in this thread... but take a look at people like Mike Diehl, alotta people say he's a good trainer right?
Watch this video:
http://www.diehlspolicek9training.com/K9SZEMBITEBOX.wmv
He calls it the "Bite Box".... looks worse than a table to me, the dog has no escape left/right/around like on a table, he's on a short line, can't turn around, n walls left/right of him... but this is a young dog, the dog is being worked without being challenged, so is this form of training acceptable if the decoys job is done properly? Or is Mike Diehl perhaps not as good a trainer as I had originally heard?
Selena -- what is your definition of defense? How do your dogs work if they don't work in defense when a man is threatening them? I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, but I've always learnt that you work a dog in prey for foundation (play/side to side/run away bites/the dog wants to catch the sleeve as a prey toy), then later you also work on defensive training (the decoy comes to the dog full on, no side to side, straight at the dog, decoy threatens the dog, stares the dog down, psychological pressure) -- the dogs demeanor changes, a dog barking in defense has a deeper more serious bark, a dog barking in prey tends to have a higher pitch "please give me the sleeve!!" type bark. Now, I know that a dog that is 100% prey with no defensive drives can still bite, they just don't realize so much that they are being threatened, n all their biting is done because they love to bite, n they bite a human arm because they don't care what they bite -- but a civil dog is a dog who will take defensive pressure and want to bite the man, not the equipment... this is different from a dog who doesn't care what they bite as long as they are biting. So what drive are your dogs in when someone is threatening their life trying to kill the dog in a police apprehension? Again, I'm not saying you're wrong, you probably know better than I do -- but I've never met a trainer who doesn't work their dog defensively when training for police work. Even in Schutzhund, a deep defensive bark sounds better barking in the blind than a high pitched whiney prey bark, my GSD is notorious for his annoying high pitched bark :lol:
I'm just fueling discussion here, I don't have any solid opinion one way or the other on table training
