You can add custom finder methods to your custom table object. These finder methods may use fast Doctrine_Table finder methods or DQL API (Doctrine_Connection::query()). <code type="php"> class UserTable extends Doctrine_Table { /** * you can add your own finder methods here */ public function findByName($name) { return $this->getConnection()->query("FROM User WHERE name LIKE '%$name%'"); } } class User extends Doctrine_Record { } $conn = Doctrine_Manager::getInstance() ->openConnection(new PDO("dsn","username","password")); // doctrine will now check if a class called UserTable exists // and if it inherits Doctrine_Table $table = $conn->getTable("User"); print get_class($table); // UserTable $users = $table->findByName("Jack"); </code>