Question:
: Hello.
: My girlfriend and I recently bought a nine week old Jack Russell named Oliver. We are proud new pet owners but very inexperienced. We are eager have a well trained dog but want to make sure we are using the best methods to train him. We have been looking for the best way to disipline him and have come across several different opinions. When disobediant (the dog, not us)we have been told that it is wise to tap the dog on the head with our hand and firmly say NO! But, we have also been told that this method would make the dog afraid of hands. So then we have been told to discipline with a newspaper so that the dog will not be afraid of hands. But, then we heard that this will make the dog hate paper and everything related to it; ie: Newspaper men, mail men, etc.etc. Then, we were told that we should never, ever, hit the dog no matter what it does. We love our new puppy very much. We want him to be well trained but do not want to cause psychological damage in the process. PLEASE HELP us to separate the wheat from the chaff. Any advice would be grately appreciated.
: Sincerely,
: Jason and Maria
------------------ Response Area -------------------
Hi Jason and Maria, Personally I don't know why you would feel like any kind of dicipline at this age is necessary. This puppy isn't old enough to understand much of anything but eat, sleep , play and Poop and not in that order. I think that you need to let this puppy grow up some and he will be better equipped to know what you are diciplining him for.
I don't hit any of my dogs, because they respect me as alpha and if you treat them properly then they will repespect you also, but at 9 weeks he is just to young to know what you are trying to teach him to do, and since you didn't say, why you want to diciplin him, I don't have the first clue. I would suggest that you get the book by the Monks of New Skete, called The Art of Raising a puppy and use this for a guide.
Please read some of the FAQs on this board for more help
Regards
Linda
