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| TERRIER
BEHAVIOR & TRAINING |
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TERRIER-RIFIC
BASIC MANNERS
Attend a new class, designed just for small breed
terriers! CLICK HERE
Intelligent and loyal, but also what I would like to call
"overconfident", are words that best describe the
personality of a terrier. To date I have not come across any
articles or books that address terrier behavior and training in a
way I feel it should be addressed. At some point in my
career, probably sooner rather than later, I plan to write and
publish a book on terrier behavior and training. This
article is based upon my long-term experiences with my own and my
clients’ terriers. Terriers have a mind of their own, and
in many circumstances I have found them to be able to outsmart us.
Most of the time they seem to know us much better than we actually
know them. Anyone who owns a terrier can understand this
concept. Their personalities require patience, commitment
and most importantly, understanding. One must be able to
accept a terrier’s stubborn personality and learn to work with
and modify it. I call it mutual respect.
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With some breeds of dogs,
intimidation and domination, though not necessarily my preference
in training methods, work to produce a well-mannered companion who
obeys the rules. This is not the case with terriers and many
other similar breeds. To try to dominate a terrier is an
impossibility. To give an example, as a child I was always
told that when my own terrier would growl I should grab hold of
his muzzle and shake forcefully. Guess what he would do as a
result? He would bite me, every time. I soon found out
that this tactic of physical dominance was not effective with him,
it just made the situation worse. I then came up with
another idea. Why not reward and praise him for behaving
correctly, and ignore or redirect his outbursts and stubbornness.
Many people gave me their opinion on this "ludicrous"
idea, but the funny thing was, the idea worked. He begin to offer
more and more appropriate behaviors and less and less
inappropriate behaviors. In fact, we were able to excel in
high level competition obedience using positive
reinforcement, in addition to agility and conformation.
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This example just proves how different terriers are from some
other breeds. Reprimanding them often causes increased aggression
and stubbornness. To work with a terrier one must return to the
idea of mutual respect. I feel that if we respect their
"overconfidence", they will respect our leadership.
Instead of forcing them to behave correctly, simply ask or
motivate them to behave using things like food, toys, praise, and
interaction. They will be much more likely to respect our opinions
and leadership if we respect and understand their personality.
Lastly, keep in mind that I have met very few terriers that
didn’t take more work to train than the average dog, but they
are well worth it in the long run.|
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Copyright 2007,
Jennifer Schneider. All rights reserved. |
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