Well time has finally arrived and Max has started his way on learning technical training, instead of what I have taught him at home. I have been training him the basic commands like sit, stay, wait, and lay down since he was 8 weeks old. My husband and I thought it was best for both of our sanity if we put Max in some really training classes and get him out and socializing with other dogs that are around the same age as him. He has most of the commands down like sit, wait, and lay down but when it comes to the call back he does terrible he only returns when he wants to and this is just not working for us. I thought also it would be best if he could learn his in home manors since this is something that he sometimes does poorly with. So Each week I will be reporting back on how he did in his class for that week and what we learned, in hopes that it might help some other Jack Russell owners out. There are 8 weeks to the classes so I am hoping to see some improvement in Max.

Week 1:

Ok well here is the first start on trying to get Max to be a well behaved dog. We went to the class and another dog was graduating. I hope to see Max there at the end of it all, but do not know if we are going to have to do some extended training past the 8 weeks.

We went in to the circle that they have for all the dogs, which is pretty much like a pin to keep them in a specific area. Max saw the Pit Bull that was in the class and right away started barking uncontrollably. The trainer just told me to keep covering his eyes and that if he could not see the other dogs then he would know that he needed to stop barking to do so. I found this to be quite an ordeal because he would not even stop when I did this, instead would stop barking when I had his eyes covered and then start barking again and soon as I let him see the other dogs. The barking was bad and I am not quite sure why these dogs got a rise out of him, but my mom’s dog he could be around and he would never bark. The trainer after seeing what a hard time I was having told me to turn Max around and have him face away from the other dogs kind of like a time out. This seemed to work a lot better for him then the covering his eyes thing did.

The trainer then instructed us that we were going to be taking the dogs for a walk around the store on a loose leash. In my head I was thinking this not going to work because I can see Max nipping at some of the other dogs, so instead the whole time was on a tight leash, and pretty much running in place. I was a little disappointed because I had never seen him act this way, but I knew that this is a new place with new dogs and so I could not expect for him to act perfect otherwise I would have never needed the training classes.

Clickers and treats were then handed out and she showed us how she wanted us to load the clicker to give our dogs a better understanding that when we clicked the clicker they would get a reward. Everyone else’s dogs were clam and doing exactly what the owners were wanting them to do, but Max was still barking away. The trainer told me not to worry and that next time he will be use to this and less barking will be going on.

So this week is mainly loading the clicker and teaching Max when I click the clicker he will be getting rewarded for whatever he is doing at that time. So far he is doing a lot better at home.