Hi everyone,

My new 6 month old puppy is terrified of being on the judging table. She will stand perfectly still however I think it is through fear, she shakes and her tail is down. I have some ideas of things I could try but I wondered if anyone else has had this and what worked for them to overcome it?

Thanks.

Assuming you have your own table (almost vital for table dogs I'd say), keep it collapsed on the floor, throw treats onto it, feed pup on it, make it a fun place to be on, before attempting to stand it up on its legs. And never, ever groom on the table if the pup dislikes grooming or has any small knots or tangles, ONLY nice experiences should occur.

Likewise if it were my pup then I would start off by just getting him used to being on a collapsed table on the floor as this will help the pup feel more secure.

The table needs to become a good place to be in the pups mind.so place a treat just on the table edge to begin with and when pup is happy with this then gradually move it further into the middle so that eventually all four feet are on the table.

primula cheese may be good for this as the pup has to stop for a moment to lick it up rather than just grabbing the treat and running away and as most dogs love this they don't seem to notice that you are gradually placing the blobs of it further into the centre of the table.

I use this method when training my pups to do the seesaw in agility and always let the dog dictate when they feel happy enough to move onto the next stage.

Yes, I do have my own table. That sounds a good place to start, I never thought of that. I don't really need to groom on a table yet so I will make sure only good things happen on the table.

Agree with the others re collapsed table and always making good thing happen there. Interesting to note though that my oldest girl knows fine well the difference between vet's table (very scary), grooming table (bit worrying) and judge's table (seriously exciting and fantastic place!). :-)