Jack Russel Terrier, Tuck

Brian Camara

New Member
Hello, my name is Brian. My dog, Tuck, is a Jack Russel Terrier. He was born in November 2010. I have been training him with the help of Kikopup Youtube videos. He is very obedient when it comes to most simple commands such as "sit","down", "leave it", "high five", and most importantly, "come"! He is very well potty trained, he hasn't had any accidents in several weeks. I have been trying to teach him rear end awareness, which has been very challenging. He seems to get board with it after a while, even with his favorite treats, moist and meaty's. I don't know if i should give him a break, or change up the training. For example, retrieving a toy and to "drop it" on cue. Is that like letting him control the criteria? Otherwise, he is a great dog, he listens well even through most distractions. He just has to cool off on the jumping up and the occasional playful biting of guests.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
I LOVE LOVE LOVE KIKOPUP!!! If you are using Kikopup methods, your lucky lucky dog is off to good start, AND I LIKE YOU ALREADY!!!!!:)
Kikopup has video on jumping up, too. I'll track it down if you want me to.

Here is Kikopup on puppies who are biting. (NOT sure if this is going to be embedded...sigh...) OOH OOH!! I EMBEDDED A VIDEO...I EMBEDDED A VIDEO...(to be sung to tune of Nannynanny booboo)

http://youtu.be/c77--cCHPyU

nevermind, i give up on embedding the video, but, the link SHOULD TAKE you there....i *do* sometimes find Kikopup's youtube page(S) a lil confusing...to find the one i want, i mean.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
hERE is recent thread on "rear end awareness". I've never taught my dog this, so, i can't help you. but, perhaps if you explain exactly what your dog is doing when you try to teach him "rear end awareness", and also, exactly what methods you are using/what you are doing? (someone smarter will be by, :ROFLMAO:and they'll need the info)

http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forums/threads/what-is-rear-end-awareness.3484/

Since you seem to have successfully taught your dog many cues, i'm guessing you already know to keep all 'lessons' short, and to always follow all lessons with a bit of playtime, so dogs think lessons are fun/helps dog work off any stress, etc.
 

Brian Camara

New Member
yes, thank you. this is the training video I have been using to train him to stop those pesky unwanted behaviors. He is getting better, especially as he is presently loosing his baby teeth. Improvements on the jumping up and mouthing have been progressive, but slow. At least he has become attentive to my voice enough that he usually stops the unwanted behavior when I call him or make a noise. Hopefully he will stop the behavior altogether soon enough.;) BTW .. love your dog in the photo.. beautiful dog
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
thanks! Your dog is so sweet looking!!! So your puppy is only 5 months old then? awwwww. Also, i think it's great you are focusing on recall for your puppy, surprising how many ppl don't really seem to priortize teaching that to be rock solid. Puppies do tend to have shorter att'n spans than adult dogs.
Ha, my dog's att'n span, if i don't do any training for while, shortens right back up! but, if i keep training him regularly, it gets longer and longer...you always always wanna stop/end lesson BEFORE dog zones out. Many short lessons a day is way better than one long one.
also, KEEP ALL TRAINING TREATS ITTY BITTY TEENY TINY. A full dog is harder to motivate. Dogs do NOT care how big a treat is, at all. (witness your dog searching floor for teeny crumbs...)

I use real actual meat bits for training, or crumbs off of a "Hiding Veggies" cookie, in treat recipe section. sometimes the HVcookies are too exciting, he goes TOO bananas for them sometimes, so i go back to real meat bits.

Some ppl also just turn their backs to jumping dogs, not sure if that would work on puppies or not.

don't forget to write what exactly are you and the dog doing during the "rear end awareness" training. GOOD LUCK!!!
 

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
Welcome to the Academy!
Rear end awareness is difficult for dogs. Don't focus on it too much, and don't focus on just one way to do it too much. If he's getting bored with it now, then try devoting just a tiny tiny tiny portion of your training to that until he likes it more. Here are a couple of videos with examples on teaching rear end awareness:



Being that he is still a pup, don't go too high yet with the handstand, that's a lot of stress on his developing joints. But you can start it.
Pivoting alone can help you develop an incredible heel. Check out Yolle555's YouTube channel(Silvia Trkman). Basically, the way she teachs heel is pretty much just advancing the pivot(a lot). If you can master the pivot, you can teach all sorts of tricks: heeling, backwards heeling, backwards weaves through your legs, go around you backwards, and many others.

This is kind of a basic video of how Silvia Trkman teaches heel, done by one of her students. Silvia also sells a DVD on how she teaches it that I absolutely LOVE, so glad I bought it, but it is pricey.


There are lots of ways to develop rear end awareness. Don't get stuck on just one, or your pup will get bored with it. And don't spend too much time on it until he enjoys it and gets it a little more. :)

Good luck, and enjoy the site!
 

Ina

Well-Known Member
yes, thank you. this is the training video I have been using to train him to stop those pesky unwanted behaviors. He is getting better, especially as he is presently loosing his baby teeth. Improvements on the jumping up and mouthing have been progressive, but slow. At least he has become attentive to my voice enough that he usually stops the unwanted behavior when I call him or make a noise. Hopefully he will stop the behavior altogether soon enough.;) BTW .. love your dog in the photo.. beautiful dog
Hi Brian.

My pup has just turned 6 months now. Aren't they just ADORABLE at that age!

Emily's videos are fantastic. She explains clicker training so very well.

One advice I took on board was that of Ian Dunbar. If you have unwanted behaviour, put it on cue. This way you can also STOP the unwanted behaviour. Worked for us with the jumping up. I taught mine to jump up when I slap my hands on my knees and to stop (sit) when I move backwards. It was a quick fix to the jumping problem as most people will automatically retreat when a dog jumps up on them.

As for recall ... "Smokey come" worked well in the beginning... and then the kids used that command all the time without rewarding the dog for coming. So I used a new cue word with extra yummy treats. Worked perfect .. until the kids AGAIN overused it without special treats. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr ...
We're now on the third try with a special squeaker in my pocket for emergency recalls. Should any of the kids touch that squeaker they will spend the rest of their happy childhood in misery! ;)
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Ina, you bring up such a great point---the damage done when a cue is worn out, or allowed to be ignored, or, not rewarded while still in training.
Ha, i didn't consciously realize it, really, til i read you describe it, but, i also have different cues for "come" for my dog, one, the ordinary everyday one, "come",
and the long distance, high distraction one, which i use different voice, (sort of squeakyish), and say "come, beebee!!"...ha.
Ina, don't forget, as cue becomes solid, you may want to consider rewarding every other time.

i was JUST looking all over the net, for a video i saw once, by kikopup, explaining a mistake i think i am making, when dogs only come when you have treats....cuz my dog totally responds differently if he knows i have treats, well, sometimes anyway.
and Kikopup made a video that starts out, something like, "Some of you have said you are having trouble getting your dog to have reliable recalls if you do not have treats with you..." and i need to watch that one again, but, can't find it now.....cuz i feel i have made some mistake there, in my dog sometimes is a bit less interested to show up fast if he knows my pockets are empty.... i need to watch that video.
I thought i had faded treats appropriately, to every other, every third, etc. If he doesn't come immediately, he gets praise but no treats, if he comes immediately, he gets treats, etc etc..
If it has been a while since we've done long distance recalls, he gets treats most every time, if i get to do this daily, i fade treats back to every other time...then every 3rd time, then mix it up, trying to convey to Buddy, he just never knows, so he better come.

but, i do spot a lag if he KNOWS i am not carrying treats. (i almost always have treats, but still, i want to sharpen that up a bit.)
 
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