Re: obedience

In Reply to: obedience
Category:   Behavior Problems
Posted by:  Susan Rudolf
Posted on:  December 27, 2002 at 16:42:27

: Hello,
: I am writing from Germany (so please excuse mistakes); my Parson Jack Russell is 10 month old. From the beginning he was at the dog´s school, first in the playing lessons and than to learn the basic rules. He is perfect in the house and he also is trained to come back when called. The problem is he knows the command but he comes only as long as there is no other dog, person ect. of interest. Unless he just runs away. Nothing has helped so far. The dog school has no more idea. Somebody suggested an electro-band. What do you think???

Response:

Hi Susan,

All this really means is your terrier needs more obedience work. Part of obedience work is to gradually introduce distractions when working your terrier.

Most dogs will be real good on commands without other distractions. They will do terrific inside their own home or backyard, but don't do well outside of those areas. That is why trainers will tell you that once your dog can do its commands inside your house or backyard to start to take it outside of your home to areas where there are other things going on (distractions) and start all over again doing the commands at a park or parking lot (on lead please) anywhere that there will be other people or dogs.

All of this takes lots of time and patience and consistency and can be learned without the aid of a shock collar. No dog should ever be off-lead unless you are 150% sure you have total recall on your dog and even then there are still situations that one should never let your dog off-lead no matter how good they are.

So, take what you learned in obedience class and start some short mini sessions in other places. As your dog gets better and better at its commands, then move on to an even busier place.

Remember, keep your sessions brief (5-10 minutes), be fair (don't expect miracles) and make them fun!