As you know, we adopted a Jack Russell Terrier last fall. Our prior dog, Rascal, was . . . a handful, let’s leave it there. So, when we adopted Sophie, one of the first things we did was to sign up for training classes. Best thing we decided to do last October! We found a wonderful trainer named Sylvie, who runs K9 Solutions. Our trainer for that series of classes was Amy, a patient woman who loves dogs. We learned that to show our dominance, we must walk through doorways before our dog.
HOW do you do that when your dog runs through before you can think about it? Well, that’s the deal. You must think about it. Soon your actions are second nature. Place your dog at a sit/stay and walk through the doorway. Release your dog on command. We always make sure all humans enter the door before Sophie. I alternate releasing her quickly and holding her in that stay for a good thirty seconds.
Another way to show your dominance is upon feeding your dog. Place your dog at a down/stay and put their meal on the floor. Wait up to two minutes before releasing your shaking dog. Sometimes I wait ten seconds, other times a good minute. If our daughter is doing it, Sophie has to listen to her sing and is probably waiting a good three minutes for the words ALL DONE.
You can’t get your dog to sit and stay? See Sylvie at K9 Solutions! She’d love to help.
Heidi, reading your story makes me smile. Our dog practically salivates while she’s in the sit stay position waiting for me to feed her. You would think we’ve been starving the poor little girl.
Sharon,
Sophie is in a down stay position and her body shakes uncontrollably while she waits to be released.
It’s weird because our first Jack Russell, Rascal, self fed. And he didn’t eat much! We’d have to hand feed him or bring his dish into the family room to entice him to eat.
Sophie, on the other hand, constantly acts like she hasn’t been fed in DAYS!! They are all so different 🙂 Heidi