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| TERRIER
BEHAVIOR & TRAINING |
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Do you have a question about your Terrier and would like advice from
someone who has in-depth experience with this breed group? Are
you outside the Seattle Area, but are unable to find a trainer in
your area who has experience with Terriers?
If so, I
can help!
I provide Phone
Consultations to address most types of behavior problems. With one phone call, we can develop a specific
training
plan to combat the problems you are having in your household with
your dog.
I also provide Terrier-specific
Private Lessons to those you live in the Seattle Area.
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Terriers - Why Are They So
Different?
Intelligent and loyal, but also what I would like to call
"overconfident", are words that best describe the
personality of a terrier. 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. They think faster than we do and get into trouble
faster than we can stop them. Anyone with a terrier in their
lives 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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Some training methods talk about
dominating your dog, or trying to "become
alpha". To try to dominate a terrier is an
impossibility, in my opinion. 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 (this was back in the late eighties), 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.
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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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HOME |
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Copyright 2009,
Jennifer Schneider. All rights reserved. |
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