Re: Female JRT just won't Listen!

In Reply to: Female JRT just won't Listen!
Posted by:  Barry
Posted on:  March 27, 2001 at 19:57:24

: My year and a half female (spayed) JRT has been through basic and advanced obedience classes and did fairly well. Since her last class (ended about 6 weeks ago) she's been behaving badly. When I repremand her for something, say jumping up on the kitchen table, I'll catch her up there again and again and again. It's as though she doesn't think I'm serious. I've never hit her but have resorted to alpha rollovers (a few times but not often). I normally verbally repremand her and sometimes put her into her crate for short periods. Is there anything that I can do or that I'm doing wrong? She also doesn't come when I tell her to. She'll only come to me if there's a reward (a small piece of carrot or a tidbit of some kind). It's become very frustrating for me to keep up with this behavior. Any Suggestion?

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Hi, Barry,

Obedience classes don't end when the class schedule ends. The whole point of finding a trainer, and paying your hard earned money for those classes is so that you'll carry on with teaching your dog, and know how to handle him/her when he/she gets out of hand.

If you find that your need for discipline is increasing, and your dog is beginning to not take you seriously, it's because she's lacking consistency. I can recognize inconsistent owners easily. See if you can identify with this... do you give a command and then repeat it over and over and over? (We ALL do this sometimes. I catch myself falling into this category.) Because it's just like with a little kid. If you say "no" and a child doesn't listen, would you stand over the child repeating "NO... NO... NO... NO... NO... I SAID NO... NO... NO... JIMMY NO! NO! NO!" Of course you wouldn't. You'd say no. Then if the child fought you, you might say "I said no, and that's FINAL." If he continued to challenge, there would be some sort of correction. "Jimmy, if you continue what you're doing, and you don't listen to me, I'm taking away the sega." You need to get to that point with your dog. If you're repeating yourself, you are weakening your position as a leader because the only thing you've succeeded in doing is turning the word "no" into the word "maybe."

It sounds like it's time to set aside 20 minutes a day, 5 times a week, to take your dog outside and assert your position as alpha by refreshing those obedience classes. Work on the basics you learned in your classes and it is bound to help. Not only will you have some quality time with your dog, but you will be asserting yourself as leader.