Training
Crate Training
Crate training Jada was easy. She loved having a domain that was solely hers that we could never intrude on. The first few weeks she would cry out loud if we left her in the crate whilst we went out, we could hear her from the street! But then we realised that she loved it and was soon willing to go in there without us having to force her. We were taught that you should never treat it as a way of punishment, this is their den, they will hate it if they think it’s a 'sin bin'. We never leave her in the crate for longer than 6 hours. Before putting her into the crate, we make sure that she has had plenty of excercise, and the chance to relieve herself outside. Dogs will never go to the toilet in their crate as they don’t want to be sitting in their own pee! In this case, it is also a great way of toilet training, as they get used to ‘holding on’ as long as you take them straight out when you let them out of their crate.
We also make sure she has a bowl of water and a toy (in case she gets bored).
Tricks
From our experience of owning dogs, they really are a man’s best friend, and they try hard to understand you. By helping them to do this you can beat their frustrations by training them whilst rewarding yourself at the same time with a 'trickster' puppy! They want to please you. Also, Alaskan Klee Kai are pack oriented. Therefore, you should establish yourself as the pack leader from the beginning.
Jada was easy to teach as we started training her at 8 weeks old. Alaskan Klee Kai’s are extremely smart and pick things up immediately. As long as you persist with the training then they will never forget. She started off at Puppy Class 1 which went for 8 weeks. This was a beneficial way for us to learn the basics when training Jada as well. We love training her and showing off everything she has learnt to our friends and family when they come to visit. The persistence pays off in the end!
We began to teach Jada with hand movements (instead of words) and treats. Now we can use either and she will know what she's being asked to do. If she is at the park and we don’t want to scream out to her to come, she can see us motioning with our hands and will come straight away (well, most of the time anyway!)
At a very early stage Jada was capable of the usual set of tricks; ‘sit’, ‘lie down’, ‘rollover’, ‘shake’, ‘high 5’, ‘high 10’, ‘come’, 'spin' and ‘stay’. We also have her playing dead and jumping hoops! We are in the process of teaching her more. We will soon post a video of everything she has learnt.
Her next project will be agility; she is very agile on her feet and a fast runner. Agility classes is meant to be great fun both for you and your dog. We think Jada will pass with flying colours!
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