(Video and a photo by Maria Wulf. Saturday afternoon, I felt asleep reading. Bud jumped up onto my chest and also went to sleep. I guess we are bonding.)

I’ve always read and heard that training any kind of terrier is difficult. The terrier breeds are almost universally intelligent, restless, anticipatory and hyper vigilant.

With But this is all true. He is wired into me, so busy anticipating me can barely wait to execute a command, and often doesn’t. He is also aware of every movement or distraction in the pasture, he wants to see everything that is happening.

I’ve trained a lot of Labs and border collies. Labs will stay focused for long periods of time, they are bred to be with people for long stretches when hunting Border collies will absolutely anything to get to work, including come, sit, stay and lie down.

Buds distraction makes me nervous, because I am always anticipating him,  waiting for that head to turn and for him to lose focus.

But’s mind is like mine in some ways, restless, all over the place, a lot of wheels spinning. Training is a two-way street, they train us, we train them. It only works as a partnership, a two-way thing.

I’ve also not trained him since he was a puppy, so he grew up with habits and responses I had nothing to do with.

For a three week-old adult dog, I think we are making good progress, but the videos show me I am still a bit twitchy, although doing better.

I’m using fewer words, and sometimes no words. I’m increasing the distances for “stay.” Bud’s sit is excellent, sharp and immediate, but I need to also do it without food.

Gus got sick before I could seriously train with him, so I’m learning how different Boston Terriers are from other dogs I’ve trained. They are willful, dominant, vigilant. But I see a clear path to training Bud, he is wicked smart and eager to please. We will get there.

It will take a while. Training your own dog is not like watching Cesar train his dogs. We don’t have any assistants and we have to work with the dogs we have, not the dogs our producers choose. It’s different.

Make sure you never feel stupid or foolish training your dog. We must have confidence in ourselves and visualize the outcome we want.  We must see our own flaws and problems, not just theirs.

When training fails or stumbles, I accept that it is almost certainly my fault, and I go to work on myself. I never blame the dog.

In the training video above, I see that I am calmer and more relaxed, and thus, Bud is calmer and more relaxed. An angry, twitchy person will never train a dog easily or too well. To get a better dog, you do have to be a better human, a great trainer taught me that

So I give Bud an A-, this is tough one for him. But he has made enormous progress in the week since I started working with him daily.

I give me a solid B for focus, patience and enthusiasm. I need to be more “up,” and make sure my timing is good. I need to continue to relax and build up my own confidence.

All in all, a good lesson..