5mth old Nugget (Jack Russell) and I are starting obedience next week. I haven't encountered any major behavioural issues with him as yet,, there are however 3 problems I'd like to nip in the bud asap. They are: extremely rough play with other dogs, people that don't know him comment on how aggressive he is when playing. The other is that he has recently starting humping other dogs, not all of them, he has done it to two dogs ( both females, one spayed, other entire) over the past week. He is also a terrible ball thief, he always manages to steal another dogs ball and getting him to drop it is hit and miss, mostly miss!

The obedience instructor said that training will help fix all of these problems. I can understand it helping the ball stealing by getting a good recall. But how will it help the humping and his rough play/manners with other dogs? I'm guessing obedience will help him focus more on me and my commands rather than other dogs??

You have answered your own question...

Haha I guess I'm always trying to make things more complicated than they are. I have never done obedience training, as I've always had laid back easy to handle toy breeds. A Jack russell is a different kind of eermm monster

This rough play thing is getting to me a bit... Last night we went on our usual walk to the beach and his favourite play mate was there, an 18mth Jack female. He was pinning her down and sinking his teeth in, which made her yelp quite a few times. I was hoping she would tell him off, but she didnt. So i just put him on his lead and stopped the play, other than this i don't really know how to stop this and teach him not to be so damn rough!

He's 5 months old which is why adult dogs are still tolerating his roughness, they will start to "educate" him as he approaches his first burst of testosterone kicking in after 6 months. My dogs are always tolerant of puppies under 6 months, as they mature the tolerance reduces & the canine correction kicks in. I always have at least one bitch who does the telling off of young dogs whilst the other males & females steer clear.

He will get corrected & learn how to behave acceptably

For me it was learning that two of the most imoortamt things were teaching the dog to foucs on me and impulse control .a lot of thungs then became possible aftrr that

Training (done right) will help teach him impulse control, which is important in all the things you've mentioned.  You can teach him to be calmer around other dogs, and you can train a solid 'leave' cue which will work for both the ball thieving and the humping, and indeed the rough play, if you really work hard on it (as that is a much harder behaviour to interrupt).  And as you say, you'll get much better focus on you around other dogs, which will help everything else.

As far as other dogs teaching him goes, it doesn't always work - sometimes the adult doesn't tell off hard enough to dissuade the youngster, or isn't bold enough to do it at all.  It's the owner's job to teach the dog how to behave on the really big/rude things, like humping and rough play - both of these things are self-rewarding and a telling off may not stop them, especially the rough play, if it's really OTT.  A telling off can actually wind the dog up more in that situation and if the dog is allowed to practice it, it can go to a new and less pleasant level.  Also, many dogs may learn not to be OTT with one specific dog after a ticking off - but will continue to do so with other, less assertive, ones.  So again, it comes back to the owner to teach the dog that manners apply to all dogs, not just the ones with less patience or boldness.

> The point of doing obedience training?

I have loved every dog I've owned.  But the dogs that I've taken to obedience have a special place in my heart.  The incredible bond that we've formed has been awesome.

As Jean has said it develops the bond & the enjoyment.

I can understand the bond comment. I went and observed the obedience class last week, and watching the folks put their dogs in a looong perfect down/stay and seeing the dogs intense concentration on their owners whilst following every command  just warmed my heart. This was of course the advanced class, Nugget and I will be on the other end of the oval with the rest of the young, inexperienced juvenile delinquents

Yes but working, training with your dog the bond begins from the beginning not just when you get to advanced classes.

I have taken all my dogs to training classes. Great Danes borzoi, Sheepdog, Buhund and Sheltie. I love taking them and seeing the improvement in their behaviour transferred from the class to other places.

Only once did I start 'obedience training' with one of my girls whose dad was an American Ob. Champion as well as a conformation Champ.   I thought why not, as long as she's enjoying it.  Well it went 'okay' until the people running the classes started to insist I got what I felt was 'rough' with her, at which point her tail went down and clearly she (and so me too) stopped enjoying it.  Unfortunately the people were into the Doberman and I felt weren't making allowances for how the Basset thinks/works.   So we stopped.   All the other work I did with my hounds was in the form of ring-craft and there was no doubt that we all enjoyed that and it intensified the early bonding I had with them, in more appropriate surroundings for those I intended to show.

There's no doubt that for the novice owner, going to training classes can help the owner to learn how best to handle their youngsters, as the dogs themselves.

> Well it went 'okay' until the people running the classes started to insist I got what I felt was 'rough' with her,

That was the reason I gave up with 2 so called trainers.  Some people don't deserve dogs.

Any class that was 'rough' I'd just walk away from, but the dismissive attitude & derogatory remarks towards my breed by our last trainer spurred me on to show her how wrong she was. He ended up being the star pupil, loved the classes, would sit by the door waiting to go every Thursday afternoon, passed each exam first time & even though it took me years to get him relaxed enough to do a 'down', got his well earned Gold.

I'm aiming for this caliber with Nugget...... In my dreams

https://www.facebook.com/wedontdeserveanimalsDM/videos/203728337056028/

It's awesome to watch isn't it?  His stop during the run was incredible.

He's typical of many 100s of VPG/IPO trained dogs of all breeds big & small Sen small terrier work & huge Great Dane(who took the "criminal" off his feet

I am so glad I took my little terrier obedience training. Had only ever done it as a way of fixing difficult rescues before, and it was never fun because I was in the reactive dog class or if not I had to be on guard all the time because my dog *was* reactive ... It taught me a lot and saved the dogs but also gave me massive envy of "normal" people with "normal" dogs :) ...  As difficult as my pup has been, as reactive his personality, having one so young has made all the difference. I can enjoy my classes. We are ready for our Silver test and have also started agility - in our very first agility session, everyone was amazed by my terrier's obedience and understanding of hand signals. Well, we've done a lot of all that! He watches! It's amazing ...

A lot of folk don't like terriers.  It's such fun when you amaze them with your dogs' obedience.  I think terriers are one of those love or hate dogs.  I love them, they always have personality.  Well done you. 

>His stop during the run was incredible.

It just blows my mind.

I showed my daughter who has 2 Huskies the video, and told her to hop to it with her dogs.. Her response was:

I want to do IPO training with them so bad but I’ve never seen a husky do it
They’re just not that eager to please 

That 'eager to please' comment made me laugh so hard!! Bless em'

Thank you all for your comments. I'm actually getting excited about our first class on Sunday. I had been putting it off week after week, but I'm all booked in and ready to go!

Not is this anyway comparable with Christine's G.S.D video, but for a breed that's known for a lack of work ethic, comes with a characteristic pause button & an attitude of 'what's in it for me'. This made me smile.

https://www.facebook.com/100006977165749/videos/1937293083179912/UzpfSTEwMDAwMzQ4NzEyOTk0MzoxNTA0MDk2NDM2MzgzMjQ2/?hc_ref=ART9NPZt9Sr06Pc-Jd839c0fycIrLGKxpDqQWfyOHgTRzNL1ycoEuKIgv0S6em_NW80

I love it.  The jump over the hoop soon changed to a step over.  But hey!  I've only got little legs.  :-)

Lacy that video made me smile too. He did everything his owner asked of him, which is a win in my book. So sweet

There is a GBFB competing in Freestyle he is always entertaining even if he does tend to be a bit too freestyle sometimes

What a great video! I remember there was a Basset in my pet obedience class a few years ago and he mostly did everything asked of him though at slow speed I love doing rally obedience and other stuff with my Cavaliers, we had our Obreedience team at Crufts two years running and it was amazing how many of my show friends didn't realise how trainable this breed is. So much more fun to get out and do stuff with dogs, whether it's showing, obedience, HTM, agility or anything!

> There is a GBFB competing in Freestyle

Please could you post a link for me?  Thanks.

I've started an obedience class with my youngest. I don't know why but up untill now I've not enjoyed training him at home like I did his mother. As a result he is a bit of a spoilt brat. He is a year old now and we have just had our second class and I must say it's made a huge diffrence, I'm actualy enjoying training with him now and as a result he is having more fun.

I'm hoping it will also help mine working on long lead/off lead around other dogs and actualy ignoring them. he loves other dogs so much on walks I go out the window when he sees another dog. He also has no concept of dog manners and can be pushy, vocal and boisterous, most dogs he meets are often either afraid of him or don't like him because of it. Poor guy hardly has any doggy friends.

>He also has no concept of dog manners and can be pushy, vocal and boisterous

I can totally relate to this. Nugget starts off playing nicely then slowly gets rougher and rougher until i have to pull him away. He reminds of a kid amped up on red cordial, he gets way too overexcited!

As for obedience classes... After weeks of putting it off, i turned up last Sunday only to find out the class was canceled due to hot weather. This Sunday was canceled due to rainy, windy conditions Is the universe trying to tell me something!!?? What's going to happen next Sunday? A freak once in a hundred years tornado!!

> i turned up last Sunday only to find out the class was canceled due to hot weather.

Too hot had to read that twice, then I saw The Southern Cross.
Lucky you, so miss my adopted home. Good Luck.

Will try and find one Jean

Thank  you.  Appreciated.

>Too hot had to read that twice, then I saw The Southern Cross. Lucky you, so miss my adopted home.

It's a great country to live in Lacy. I often check out England's (or is it great Britain, i got told off once for saying England) weather, and i don't know how you guys handle the cold and cloudy conditions, I would struggle for sure.

I can't believe they canceled last weeks class, it was around 20C and was lightly drizzling, but very windy, us Aussies are too soft lol Nugget got his first experience of proper rain in the days prior, and lets just say he was not impressed! He poo'd in the bathroom after running out and running straight back inside again, he hasn't done his business inside for a couple of months! I think i my have a soft Aussie Jack Russel on my hands here

It just goes to show how dry it is where we live. Nugget was born last November, and this is his first experience with rain..

20C sounds absolutely lovely!  In March last year I went to Spain to see my dad, and the day I left it was 20C.  Just right for me, I was very much born in the wrong place.  I came back to the weather we're having now.  This country sucks!

> This country sucks!

  Just goes to show that we all belong somewhere.  I hate the heat, really makes me ill.  Even when it rains when I'm down at the caravan, I'm walking on the beach. That's what wellies are for!    I LOVE the UK it's my sort of temperature.  There's something to suit us all.

> I hate the heat, really makes me ill.

Me too so much do NOT do much over 22C.   I think the older we get, the less we can do 'heat'.   I wasn't good out in Canada in a S.Ontario summer - it's not so much the heat however, but heat AND humidity.   The trouble with the climate out there was you spend 7 months indoors through 'Winter', then if lucky 4 weeks of 'Spring' before being hit by Summer which for me, meant cranking up the a/c - and having a basement helped too.   I remember the first summer out there - it was like walking into a sauna at times.   And that lasted until again with luck, we had the Fall before the cycle started all over again.  Snow by the end of October until April or later.

I was meant to live in the Alps.   Even if it gets cold and sometimes hot, at least you can breath!   Sorry to go off topic. 

> There's something to suit us all.

Yes indeedy.  I absolutely detest the cold and wet - my house is 20C bare minimum all year round, more often 23-25C in the lounge.  My cold tolerance has gotten less over the last couple of years too.  Winter last year my thermostat was set to 16/17 night and day (numbers are a tad off to the reality!), this year it's been 17/18 with the same temps outside.