Puppy Training as Part and Parcel of Jack Russell Terrier Training

The story of the Jack Russell Terrier that morphs from a star into a second-best dog everytime it encounters people or other dogs is a proverbial one. Everybody is familiar with the dog with no issues whatsoever when it comes to interacting with and meeting people or other dogs. But when it encounters its so called weaknesses, the dog can be observed “losing” it, and with tail tucked between its legs, it either insists on hiding between its master’s legs, or whimpers to be held. Indeed, where did the Jack Russell Terrier training go?

For dog owners, the immediate solution is to stop reinforcing the negative behavior, and to distract instead the dog, and to get it to focus on the owner-handler’s signals. But the question still remains, is it worth training a dog that seem to be steeped in submission or shyness? Any dog owner would do well to reign in annoyance and impatience at the dog, and to proceed with the training, since nothing else packs the surefire combination of fun, interesting classes and training with other dogs.

But for the dog’s better sake, an owner-handler who knows the value of a Jack Russell knows plenty of reasons can be made! Keep helping the dog to overcome its shyness or submission. Do not give in to the internal bells ringing, and cut down on coming to the dog’s rescue by picking it up. Add instead the warmth of feeling rewarded by using plenty of reward foods in order to build a more welcoming association between rewards and treats and training classes.

Besides, one big bonus point to being in training classes is that while a dog can be good at tricks and commands, the whole point behind training is that the dog is successful in repeating in a range of environments what it has been taught, and is also adept at interacting with a variety of people and pets. And it happens to be a crucial step towards formal Jack Russell Terrier training.

Dog owners will appreciate taking a look and knowing how their dogs are taught. In the process, curious stuff is sometimes shown for people to digest. For example, one curious way that trainers work is to teach the important word before the behavior. A trainer will hold the treat close to the eye, all the while saying “watch,” then will reward the dog when it does make contact. A potential problem here is that the dog will end up associating “watch” with looking at the “treat”, not looking at what the trainer wants the dog to focus on. Others think this problem can be overcome by resorting to clicker training to teach.