My angel is very nice and obedient girl, except 2 behaviors...

[casper26]

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Dear fellow members,

I adopted a 2 years old Jack Russel Terry last December. She was untrained and due to Covid, I preferred not to take risk for training class. Over the time, she is ok with everything except 2 behaviors below, hope you get your opinion and advise how to fix them please.

a) She was nice and easy the whole day, but when we are getting ready to go out for walk, she suddenly becomes so excited and impatient. I walk her twice a day everyday, for 45min-60min by the evening and 30min before go to bed. See video below please.

b) She like to jump on people and dog to catch attention. Other dog and people could be scared, thought she wanted to bite. But she didn't, it is just how she greet people.

She is my first dog, I love her with all my heart, she is my angel. When I first adopted her, she was untrained and extremely naughty, but over the times, she is now so nice and obedient, I am so proud of her, though except above 2 behaviors. I dont think these were her nature, but she just didnt know how to express her excitement and how to greet people/dog. Hope you could share your experience and advice please.

*I live alone and have no relative nearby, I prefer to take no risk to attend training course at the moment. Imagine if I fall sick, who will take care of her... And if I got to ICU, I have no one to help me also...

Thanks! :beers:

 

[Tinytom]

This is typical terrier excitement. ...
You could try to wait until her excitement has calmed before you put her harness on ...ignore her screeches and praise and reward when she is calm and then put the harness on ...even if that means waiting 10 mins ....
Iwouldnt let her jump up at people even if she is being friendly. ..not everyone appreciates this ....
Well done for adopting her and giving her a wonderful life ...
Whereabouts in the country are you....some of the rescue centres ...blue cross for example will help if you were ever ill or have to go into hospital. ..
Keep up the good work

 

[JoanneF]

For jumping up, I think dogs find ”don't do xxx” difficult. Just like people, if I said to you ”don't think of a red double decker bus” what's the first thing that comes to mind?

So rather than ”don't jump up” train a ”do” do something else, that makes jumping impossible at the same time - for example, a solid sit. But the key is that the sit has to be far more rewarding for her than jumping, so break out the sausages. The sit could well help with the harness too.

For your (very valid) concern about her if something happened to you, have you seen these?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AnimAlone-Pet-Home-Alone-Card/dp/B07K2LB6B2

 

[JudyN]

It might be worth doing some 'harness' training when it isn't time for a walk - get her to sit quietly while you slip it over her head, then reward her and take it off again... work on this till she learns that sitting quietly is the key to getting the treat, then move on to the next step of putting it on.

But it might be frustrating for her if she thinks she's going to get a walk and it doesn't happen, which will be stressful for both her and you. So you might even have to start by just having it in the room with you, picking it up and putting it down again, taking it over to her and then going away again, so it doesn't become a predictor of a walk.

For jumping up, you might have to keep her on a lead or long line so she can't do this. You could also ask people you know to turn their backs on her and ignore her if she does jump up, and only make a fuss of her if she's sitting gor has four paws on the ground.

If you did want help with her training, maybe you could arrange an outdoor one-to-one session with a behaviourist? If so, make sure you find one who does reward-based training. Avoid anyone who talks about pack status, being more alpha, and so on.

 

[Finsky]

Dear fellow members,

I adopted a 2 years old Jack Russel Terry last December. She was untrained and due to Covid, I preferred not to take risk for training class. Over the time, she is ok with everything except 2 behaviors below, hope you get your opinion and advise how to fix them please.

a) She was nice and easy the whole day, but when we are getting ready to go out for walk, she suddenly becomes so excited and impatient. I walk her twice a day everyday, for 45min-60min by the evening and 30min before go to bed. See video below please.

b) She like to jump on people and dog to catch attention. Other dog and people could be scared, thought she wanted to bite. But she didn't, it is just how she greet people.

She is my first dog, I love her with all my heart, she is my angel. When I first adopted her, she was untrained and extremely naughty, but over the times, she is now so nice and obedient, I am so proud of her, though except above 2 behaviors. I dont think these were her nature, but she just didnt know how to express her excitement and how to greet people/dog. Hope you could share your experience and advice please.

*I live alone and have no relative nearby, I prefer to take no risk to attend training course at the moment. Imagine if I fall sick, who will take care of her... And if I got to ICU, I have no one to help me also...

Thanks! :beers:

Only 2 'issues' left !? Well done and being first time dog owner as well...who needs dog trainers...
As already said...'EXCITEMENT' is something that terriers tend to do and are good at Some grow out of it and can be trained for, others never do. I try not to 'fix' the terrier behaviour as such but take more of 'managing it' or diverting it to something else. In general terriers are such a lively & happy personalities that trying to suppress what they are made of, kind of ruins the package....or that is how I see it. And terriers do mellow out as well as they age.. yours is still young dog and terrier 'training' tends to go on through out their life time....they test their boundaries all the time. If you set a behavioural boundary that they abide to...keep it so as when you let it slip, you've lost the battle and starting again will be even harder work

As I have multiple terriers, you can just imagine what kind of rattle we go through when all of our dogs get excited I'm not even trying to train them out of it...terrier 'charm' is source of our daily amusement
What I try to do is not to feed that behaviour so that it doesn't get any worst as it could lead other unwanted behaviour, like unintentional nipping when they don't know what to do with all the over boiling emotions.
We tend to put the harnesses and leads on absolute last minute before going though the door. It is like keeping the dogs guessing if us putting shoes and coats on means that they get to go out too. If they start their excitement already when we are getting ready, it is then much easier to calm the dogs down by causing disapointment when saying no at that stage rather than trying to control their behaviour when they are being 'coated'.
It kind of teaches them to able to 'hold their horses' until they are sure they are going out and then allowing their natural behaviour to come through..but at that stage it is then short lasting

ETA; if you are talkative dog owner like I am...don't tell your dog when it is walkie time. Dogs know when we are getting ready and what it might mean for them...but getting yourself quietly ready to go out, no eye contact..just minding your own business and without saying the 'W' word means that your dog is left waiting for that last glue before the 'explosion'. When it doesn't get it....it then is able to manage its emotions that little bit better and there haven't been too much of a build up what to cope with.