Puppy Training: Starting Out Early With Jack Russell Terrier Training
What can Jack Russell Terrier owners expect from puppy training lessons at a nearby center? Aside from expecting these lessons to eventually lead to a KC good citizenship bronze award, what is dead-sure is that exercises in these classes start right off! What’s more, sometimes a class can be as conveniently small as in the single digits, as small as three or four.
Heelwork is among the first Jack Russell Terrier training tasks, where a dog may want to trot along with its owner-handler. This involves, among others, started with the dogs sitting on our left, then leading off my left foot, doing turns and stopping with the dogs sitting on our left again. Other routine movements to be practiced are standing up, sitting, and lying down. Vet checks are definitely going to be practiced, with drills wherein the dogs allow their body, eyes, mouth, ears, and paws to be handled and inspected. Make sure to bring treats for that one, and also for grooming practices!
There are also stay commands and recall sessions. In the case of stays, the dog is asked to stay, while the the owner-handler takes a step farther, then a few steps, growing into a few steps with 5 seconds of waiting up to a minute of waiting. Obviously the trick is to get the dog to get accustomed, or trained, to waiting. Roughly the same is done with recall, but this time with increasing distances.
The gate is yet another exercise, whereupon the dog goes through a series of waits and come ins, while the owner enters and exits.
Dog owners will get a lot observing how their pets are trained according to schools of thought of how dogs learn commands. For instance, those who believe that the word-command ought to be taught before the behavior will teach “watch” this way. A treat will be held to an eye, then the command “watch” is given, and if the dog makes eye contact, a reward is given. By the way, to avoid confusion between watching the treat and watching “what I am doing,” some owners simply train the dog using a clicker.
As always, there is good Jack Russell Terrier training for the dog to experience in an environment with plenty of distractions. Learning may come at the price of ultimately several blocks of cheese, but soon the calm behavior and cooperation in exercises will need to be firmly in place.
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Tags: Jack Russell, Jack Russell Terrier, Jack Russell Terrier training, Jack Russell Terriers, Jack Russell training, Jack Russells