Disclaimer: This is just one persons first experience training a JRT. Your mileage may vary.

Results

I thought I’d start with the positive results my training has lead to.

I love my dog and I want her to feel as free as possible in the relatively short time she’s with me. Therefore I want to keep her off-leash as much as possible. This requires her to listen to me, it might save her life.

So the primary result of my training is that we have walked off-leash in 10 countries for these past 6 years. I can walk with her off-leash in big cities that are completely new to me, because she listens when I want her to stop at red lights and crosswalks, she prefers sidewalks because I taught her to.

Even in temporary pedestrian areas where I walk in the middle of a closed street she runs to the nearest sidewalk because it’s habitual.

My training philosophy can be summarized like this;

• Learn recall.
• Be aware of your surroundings.
• Be aware of how your dog responds to things and situations.
• Expose your dog to different situations.
• Be quick to reward any positive behavior.
• Be quick to correct any negative behavior.
• Communicate with your dog.
• Be patient and consistent.

What does this all mean?

Learn recall

The very first thing you train your dog to do is come to you on command. So called “recall”.

This should be considered a dog license, before you do this I don’t even want to see you on the streets with your dog.

And this training never really ends, even at 6 years old you should reward your dog for listening to your recall command.

My advice is to have two recall commands, one calm and one absolute. The absolute one is the one you yell out when you have no other choice.

I used to keep a vent from a squeeky toy in my fanny pack as a last resort, but it was rarely effective when she started chasing a rabbit.

At the end of the day you have to react quickly and loudly for a Jack Russell to hear your voice over their adrenaline when they initiate the chase.

Don’t be ashamed of yelling in public, it might save your dog, or it might save you a lot of grief. I say this only because I’ve literally seen people in Sweden particularly who seem afraid to raise their voice in public.

Be aware of your surroundings

A big part of my dog “training” is just being aware of what is around me. For example, what gender is the dog we’re meeting? I’ve grown accustomed to asking dog owners “age and gender” because I need to establish where this dog is in the pecking order.

If you’re about to run into another dog near a cross walk, I tend to stand back and wait until the other owner has crossed the road. Because I know that sometimes dogs might get excited meeting other dogs and do quick sprints in some direction that might as well be straight into traffic.

Having a JRT I am also very aware of if there are small animals around. Having lived in Malmö for 10 years was a bit unusual because Malmö has a massive infestation of rabbits in the city. So I was well aware of what time the rabbits came out, where they were and so on.

A lot of people will say that a dog should walk next to you, or behind you to show submission. In Malmö I actually preferred to have her walk infront of me so I could see what she reacted to.

That’s also why I attached a little bell to her collar, so I could hear when she stopped. Not only if she stopped to poop, but primarily if she stopped to focus on something.

Look several steps ahead of you, and behind you, to know what might be coming up. Children running with sticks, other dogs, dog owners holding their dogs on a short leash. Be respectful and read these situations so you know how to act.

This goes both ways, be respectful of other dog owners. For example, don’t bring a squeeky toy to the dog park. It triggers every other dog there.

Be aware of how your dog responds

Be aware that older dogs will have a tendency to correct cocky young dogs. Be aware that females can be a lot more territorial towards other females than males are towards each other. Be aware that females not in heat will harshly reject advances from male dogs. If you’re aware then you won’t get scared when this happens.

For example, while I can take her food away, she will act aggressively towards other dogs around food, water and toys.

Expose your dog to different situations

Which leads me to the next point, the only way to learn how your dog behaves is to expose it to situations and be vigilant. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have scars from breaking up dog fights.

But every single fight has taught me about my dog, and has taught my dog about the world. She’s now experienced enough to herself avoid other female dogs, especially older ones. I never have to worry at the dog park as long as they’re both off leash, they will resolve the situation themselves.

On-leash though can be volatile, they feel trapped and might get amped up more if you let them pull on a taut leash.

Be quick to reward positive behavior

Get used to keeping treats in your pockets. The sooner you reward your dog the more efficient it is.

Understand the context of the situation, don’t give your dog treats just to lure it away from a negative situation, you’re only rewarding it for acting poorly.

I can’t believe I have to write this but I’ve seen owners do this so many times. It probably relates to the same behavior where parents will park their children infront of an iPad to keep them calm.

Be quick to correct any negative behavior

There are several ways to skin this cat but I tend to be physical. Dogs have a certain culture and language, and it’s primarily physical.

To speak the dog language you have to get used to poking or pinching your dog regularly, but always associate it with some negative sound like “no”.

In extreme cases you might have to calm your dog down. That’s when I flip it over on its side or back and lay my hand over its neck to hold it down, do not release it until it has calmed down.

This is literally the same technique a female will use against its puppies.

Communicate

Don’t just pull on the leash, say something. Associate everything you do with a word and you’ll see amazing results in the long term.

For example I said the word pee and poo every time my dog did either of those, and eventually I could just tell her to pee and she’d do it on command.

Same goes for “come here”, or “let’s go”.

Be patient and consistent

Above all this training requires consistency and patience. Anything else will simply confuse the dog.