When it comes to training a dog it is very important that your dog makes eye contact with you. Just like humans you know when someone is paying attention to what you are trying to say, by making eye contact with you, this is the same when it comes to dogs. If your dog is not looking at you when you are speaking to him/her then chances are good that they are not listening to you. This is important when training a dog you want something that tells you that the dog is truly listening to what you are trying to teach them.


Here is something that you can do to insure that your dog is making good eye contact with you and is ready to begin training.

First try and point to your eye and say watch me, if the dog does not even turn their head to look at you then you might want to try and reward them for this. Get a small treat that your dog likes and hold it between your thumb and index finger and draw a line for the dog’s nose up to your eyes and say watch me. Chance is good that the dog will look in the direction of the treat. Keep repeating this and even try and hold the treat up there for 10 seconds and then go longer because the longer the dog looks at you the better chance you have of holding their attention. Once it seems that the dog is getting the idea that when you say “watch me,” means to look at you, you can lose the treats and they will still focus on you because they know there will be a reward when they do.

The best thing that you can do for yourself while training is a dog is to be able to get their attention and hold it for long periods of time, this will keep your dog from wondering off and going into their own little world which can make it very hard for them to train.

 I have to say on Wednesday I was not so sure that I could get Max to even walk on a loose leash, he was so used to darting off whenever he felt like it, but today I have to give him a great amount of credit. I was not so sure that I even knew what I was doing because I could not really even hear the instructor at the last training class and I guess she did not really care to show me because she was too busy attending to the other dogs that looked like they had been previously trained compared to my Jack Russell. So Last night I decided to go over the papers that she had given us about the training class and try and at least attempt what they had put down on paper. Here is what the paper states if someone would like to also teach their dogs to walk on a loose leash and not have to struggle with their dog to go on simple walk.

Guide To Loose Leash Walks

Have a few treats that your dog likes in your pocket or coat, somewhere you can easily get to them while on your walk.

Relax and hold the leash against your body. The leash should just be hanging at your side.

Give your dog a treat if they are being calm and paying attention to you.

Then you will say the dogs name and let’s go and start walking.

If the dog has tension in the leash then just stop were you are and do not move. Your walking is like a reward for the dog. So if you continue to move while he/she is pulling you then it is like saying this is ok.

Stand there until your dog returns to your side. Once your dog returns then you can continue walking and also give him a dog treat as a reward for coming back.

This will teach your do to stay next to your side if they want to go for a walk.

Also they suggested that you walk in a little faster pace because if you walk to slow with the dog this gives them too much time to get distracted by their surroundings.



Today I tried this method with Max and it really did work. He understood that if he walks to far away from me that I would stop and not move and he returned to my side right away. It was great because even though there were plenty of distractions like out cat Harley he just kept on moving. So if you have a dog that likes to take you on the walk I would suggest trying to use this method because it does really help. If I can get my energetic Jack Russell to follow at my side I am almost sure that any dog can learn this and have success.

Whoever thinks that a Jack Russell is not smart, they are wrong. My mom tried telling me that she did not think that Max was smart because he has some pink on the roof of his mouth. I laughed because she is always trying to compete with me, by saying that he dog is smarter. Max does some things that sometimes make him look as though he is not a smart dog like tearing up the trash or my shoes, but that is not a dumb dog it is a typical Jack Russell when they are bored and there are only a few things left for them to do.


He looks at me and cocks his head when I am talking to me and he also makes great eye contact and so I know he knows what I am saying to him and he is listening. Today though it was a funny moment of a dog trying to push his limits in the house but in at the same time use his intelligence. My husband and I do not let Max go into the bathroom because every time he is in there he tends to rip the toilet paper to shreds, and so we have taught him to sit outside the door and wait and he does a great job with this. Sometimes he will even take a nap by the door when I am in the bathtub. We today I was taking a bath and Max brought his fake duck dog toy and lay down. I told him to sit and wait, he did this and because I was taking a bath about 5 minutes into it he laid down. Then all of a sudden he kind of nudged the duck inside the doorway, but not so much that he could not reach it from where he was laying at. I just thought that he was done playing with it and he just did not want it anymore, then he pushed it a little farther in the doorway and moved towards it, this did not really mean to much to me at that moment and so I just let it be, but before I knew it he was nudging it all the way into the bathroom and then I figured out what he was doing. He thought that if he kept pushing the duck into the bathroom that I would not be upset with him for coming in to get it.

Needless to say Max outwitted me for a few seconds today

Max was born in April of last year and so it was really something for him to see the snow for the first time. He enjoyed romping around and having fun. He spent the whole day burying his head in the snow and trying to track things. This is something that was really fun to see, I have never seen a dog with their whole head stuck in the snow, but Max loved it. He also found out that snow turns into water when you eat it, so he spent a lot of time eating as much snow as he could scarf down while he was outside. I think this was a great experience for Max and it was fun watching him chase the birds around the yard. I felt bad for the poor birds, but Max was really having fun and none of the birds got injured in this. It is a moment that I will never forget with my four legged friend Max.

Jack Russell's are a highly trainable dog breed. Known for their intelligence no task is to big for them, this even includes being trained for TV and Movies.

Eddie From Frasier

Eddie was the loveable companion of Frasier's father on the television show "Frasier." Eddie was known on the show for his crazy antics on the show. It seemed as though Frasier’s father had more of a love for this dog then Frasier. Eddie's real name off screen was Moose and before acting he was the typical Jack Russell. He is an example of a rough coated Jack Russell, for someone that might have never seen one. Moose even made his way onto the big screen appearing in the move ‘My Dog Skip" with costar Kevin Bacon. His owners found that training Moose gave him some structure and also helped cure his boredom that caused him to bark constantly, or his dig up the whole back yard. Eddie was one of the Jack Russell's that made this breed so popular. Moose passed away in 2006 at the ripe old age of 16.

Wishbone

Wishbone was a children’s television series that appeared on PBS that's star was a loveable Jack Russell name of course Wishbone. This pooch played the part of characters in some classic novels, or course always playing the hero that comes to save the day. This Jack Russell was the perfect example of a smooth coated Jack.

Celebrities That Have Owned A Jack Russell

Jack Russell's have even made their way into the hearts of celebrities. A lot of celebrities look for the smaller breeds of dogs because they are a lot easier to travel with, this could be one of the reasons that have become popular or maybe it is because they are loveable by nature.

Some of the celebrities that have owned a Jack Russell are Mariah Carey, Bette Midler, Paul McCartney, Goldie Hawn, Lindsey Lohan, Olympic Diver Greg Louganis, and many more. It is not hard to see why these dogs would be at the top of the list for a celebrity.

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.

Who knew that a Jack Russell's worst enemy was a balloon?



Each week I will post a Viedo of a Jack Russell doing something funny. If you would like your video put into our video blog archieve, just send the video to linda_paul28@yahoo.com and who knows your Jack could be featured here.

Here are something’s that you should really consider before even adopting or purchasing this breed of dog. They are not like some dogs that are just a good lap dog they are much more than this. You need to consider that these dogs were bred to hunt and therefore are classed as a working dog.

Time- This is something that is very important to these dogs. They can gain separation anxiety if you are away from the home for long periods of time and also they can find their own sense of entertainment when you are gone which is something that we quote as being destructive. If you spend most of your day outside of the home this is not the breed for you. They need to be trained regularly so that they learn the tools they need to get along with you in the home. This does not come natural you cannot expect to have a dog know what you want from them if you are never home to show them.

Children- You need to know that these dogs are generally hyper all their lives no matter what their age, so do not think that just because you get an older Jack Russell that you are not going to get a hyper one. You need to consider if you have younger children under the age of 5 that do not know how to respect the dog and its boundaries. Jack’s are known to be very protective of their things, and so the child cannot be grabbing at their toys or food. This is not to say they will bite, but you might not want to chance it. Also these dogs are very sensitive and do not like to rough house like some of the other breeds of dogs. They are not found of having their hair pulled on or their tail, but then again not very many dogs are. If you do not have a child that is old enough to know that this sort of thing cannot be done with this breed of dog, then that is something else to consider.

Space- Space is a big issue with these dogs, they need plenty of room to run and be able to get out and get some exercise daily. This does not mean that you have to have a house with a huge yard, but it is ideal for these dogs. They need to maintain exercise everyday to be able to stay healthy. If you do live in a house with a yard then it is best to get a fence, do not just let your Jack Russell run free, Jack’s are known to dart away from their owners because of something that they spot that they want to chase.

The best thing that you can do is be considerate of the dog and know that if you get a Jack Russell these are some of things that He/She will need and if you cannot provide them then you should look into another breed of dog.