Jack Russell dogs

[lynn jones]

I have owned and breed JR's for about 20 yrs now. The biggest mistakes people make is;

-paper training teaches dogs that it is ok to pee in the house.

-JR's are very sensitive so make sure to praise them lots. Most don't handle being hit very well so it's better just to yell at them when they make a mistake or ignore it if it's not to bad.

-good dogs are well exercised and Jacks need plenty.

-Jacks often don't "get a brain" until they are about 3yrs.

-Jacks have a lot of problems with separation anxiety e.g. pooping on the floor and shredding things. If you have to leave them exercise first and don't make a big deal about it. Best thing is to take them with you.Jack's are pack animals and don't understand that they can't be with us all the time.

lol

[JKSNIPER]

Smiley I never liked the idea of teaching the dog to pee inside. I try to watch them and when you start to see that circling behavior its time to go out RIGHT NOW.

I do not hit my dogs or anyone's dogs for that matter. I find that the lowered voice with the sad face and a sort of "WHat did you just do?" demeanor is plenty...even for my blockhead golden.

I also took a page from our K-9 trainer who taught handlers to use a word to signify displeasure by using a word other than "No".

The thinking was that we say the word no a lot in normal conversation and therefore the dog hears it in situations other than correction ones so it loses its impact.

We use the word "Phooey" and my golden responds like magic to it.

Goldens never have a brain until the day before they die. They stay puppies until late in life.

Separation we're hoping to deal with like you said...get up early , do the walk thing, then just before leaving give him the Kong toy with the frozen Peanut Butter inside.

My son lives literally less than one mile from us so I expect to get a JRT delivery on a regular basis when he has to go work 7-3 or 3-11

He can bring the dog to work....one of the bad things about being a cop....I mean I guess he COULD hide it inside the car and try and train him as a midget K-9. Would kind of be like that scene in the old movie "Electraglide In Blue" where the camera pans across the motorcycle helmets of the highway patrol cops standing in formation...then passes an empty space...then pans back and down and we see the short highway cop.

Could pan across the upraised ears of the shepherds and malinois and then an empty space....then pan back and down to the JRT.

[JKSNIPER]

Bandit has arrived.

Hes a lot smaller than he looked in the pics the lady sent to my son but he appears healthy and has been eating and drinking and peeing and pooping fine.

Tomorrow he goes to the vet for his first exam here.

I'll try and get some pics up here.

My Golden Lily seems ok with him. He did the play pose with her and she did a little front paw tap dance thing that seems to mean "Ok lets play." He chased her for about 5 feet then became interested in a leaf on the lawn.

I guess hes a typical puppy now with the attention span of a gnat.

[StraightUp_OG]

Wonderful! Bandit is a great name! Jonny Quest style? :-)

Yeah they are little as pups. I had to really look out for him not to get underfoot when mine was a pup. My vet tried to count his heart rate on his first visit but gave up as it was beating to fast to count.

Post pic's!

[basman]

pic's needed!!

[JKSNIPER]

Hes here now...my son had to work a 3-11 tour.

He responds well to "Come" which is great. Still working on the whole not peeing in the house thing....nothing major (thank God) little dogs=little pee.

Trying to not be negative and praise him a LOT when he goes pee outside.

Got to get some bitter apple spray to discourage biting the hand holding the toy rather than the toy itself.

[JKSNIPER]

I will try and get some pics up here but for some reason its always a PITA for me ....unk if its 'cos I have a Mac computer or what but they never seem to upload properly and then I have to bug someone here to load them for me and that must be a PITA for them.

I will try again.

[blind bat]

My lord, I'm exhausted just reading this thread. Good luck with the little guy.

[JKSNIPER]

Man hes funny. Gets here and we let him out of the crate. M son leaves for work and Bandit is raring to go....he runs around the house full speed and picks up a toy , savages it for a few seconds then drops it and runs around the house in the opposite direction.

My Golden retriever, Lily, just watches this behavior and you can almost hear her thoughts "What the heck is he doing?"

He then will go behind Lily and grab a mouthful of her tail , probably getting mostly hair, and pull and growl for all hes worth. Lily just gets up and walks away.

One time he must have got some meat along with the hair 'cos Lily whipped around and growled deep at him and he pulled back and sat down and looked like a scared puppy for about 5 seconds...then it was off to the races again.

Hes very entertaining to watch.....just have to get past the peeing in the house thing. Lucky we have mostly tile floors so its a quick clean up 99% of the time.

Hes starting to walk to the sliding door and looks out when he has to go....its just that hes so quiet and its a quick indication so if you're not actively watching him at the critical moment then ......

He seems to pay attention a lot to stuff you say and its a little weird 'cos he looks like he understands what you say.

Anyone wanting entertaining videos of JRT dogs go to youtube and search for Jesse and Heather and be prepared to laugh.

[earlbob]

My second one just turned 3. Keep them busy and they need alot of attention. They are smart and learn fast but don't let them boss you around.

I use my dog on the trapline and he can't get enough of it.

LOL. Love the pictures. Little guys got a set don't he!

[birdzman]

A friend in FL had two they would go right to his property line and position themselves about fifty feet apart and wait for something to came onto the property and promptly kill it, cats, rabbits, squirrels whatever but they would never go off his property to get them.

Edited April 30, 2013 by birdzman

[XD Niner]

We have a Jack Russel Terrorist who is now about 8 years old. She is the friendliest dog we've ever had and totally loyal to our family members. She'll tear off down the street to greet a stranger and immediately flop over on her back to get her belly scratched when she gets to their feet.

My wife took her to obedience classes when she was about 4 years old and it made a huge difference. As another poster said, they don't get a brain until around 3 years old.

She was the shadow to our Rat Terrier, the alpha dog in our house, until the RT passed away a few months ago. Now you can tell that she really misses her best friend. We have a cat and they get along fine but are nowhere near as close as the two dogs were.

She sleeps in the bed with us at night. She alternates between curling up in the crook of my wife's legs and sleeping between us. In both cases she sleeps under the covers all night when its cold. The RT did the same thing. How the dog doesn't suffocate is beyond me.

She was particularly active in the first three or four years and is still only a notch away from being a puppy but i like that. She loves to ride in the car. We crate trained her and she caught on pretty quickly. We can leave her for up to 12 hours and not need to worry about finding a mess when we return home.

If you have a little patience and work with the JRT as they develop I suspect you'll find that you're new addition makes a great dog. I highly recommend the obedience classes when he's a year or two old. JRTs are very intelligent and learn quickly.

Good luck!

[JKSNIPER]

Lily has taken to Bandit and they will play together for a long spell...kind of like having a puppy sitter in residence.

The only problem is when they take a break from mouthing each other and rough housing then Bandit has to go pee right away.

They are funny to watch playing with each other. Bandit zips around the house and stops to grab Lily by the tail or they play fight for a few seconds then hes running around the house again.

[benny hill]

Am on my 2nd one. Hank died at 7 from a blood clot and I morned him a year. I now have maxis maredious hill, the worlds smallest gaditator @ 2 yrs old and he thinks he can kill everything.

[bountyhunter]

Anyone have experience withtraining and raising Jack Russell puppies?

My son is getting one from a reputable breeder .Despite owning various dogs of different breeds I never owned a J.R. before and appreciate any advice anyone here has.

They call then Jack Russel Terrors...... best advice is get all Kevlar furniture.

We have two of them down at the animal shelter where I work. The one guy Sport is like 11 years old and goes like he was on crank. he will never put his toy down. To leash him to go outside takes two people: one to grab the toy, the other to drop the leash on him. He's a nice pup, but he definitely needs a full time job.

Edited May 23, 2013 by bountyhunter

[mark32]

JRT are intelligent and devoted, create sure you have a garden for them to run in. Keep with the coaching, otherwise they will become the leader dog!

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Edited June 6, 2013 by ima45dv8

[JKSNIPER]

Bandit is a funny dog.

We've learned how they have a one track mind though….we used a laser pointer. Holy crap!

If you want entertainment from a JR "Terrorist" then get a laser pointer or like my son uses his laser from his taser and be prepared for the JRT to run himself ragged. The dog LAUNCHES himself at Lily's bed and hits the far cushion like he's mean Joe Green diving for that red dot.

The bad thing about it is the red dot becomes like crack cocaine for him. Theres no "off switch" for Bandit so we have to apply it in small doses and make sure we exhaust him when we do.

At night I shine it out the sliding door and watch him blaze across the yard, across the pool cover (loop loc) and into bushes etc chasing that light. Good thing is after 15 minutes of that he's ready for some water and sit down time.

Yesterday he's outside and halfway across the yard he stops and starts digging like a freaking steam shovel. Its raining hard and I'm calling him and he's not stopping for anything. He had a hole big enough to become lost dug in less than 3 minutes. I finally had to throw a toy at him ( no response) and he finally stopped when I got my golden to go crazy barking like there was someone at the door. Then he comes in but for some strange reason he does NOT like being toweled dry….so I have to hide the towel..grab him when he comes in and then produce the towel and dry him off. I try to make it pleasant and tell him good puppy and all that stuff but nope. He doesn't like the towel.

[Zoomy]

Bandit is a funny dog.

We've learned how they have a one track mind though….we used a laser pointer. Holy crap!

If you want entertainment from a JR "Terrorist" then get a laser pointer or like my son uses his laser from his taser and be prepared for the JRT to run himself ragged. The dog LAUNCHES himself at Lily's bed and hits the far cushion like he's mean Joe Green diving for that red dot.

The bad thing about it is the red dot becomes like crack cocaine for him. Theres no "off switch" for Bandit so we have to apply it in small doses and make sure we exhaust him when we do.

At night I shine it out the sliding door and watch him blaze across the yard, across the pool cover (loop loc) and into bushes etc chasing that light. Good thing is after 15 minutes of that he's ready for some water and sit down time.

Yesterday he's outside and halfway across the yard he stops and starts digging like a freaking steam shovel. Its raining hard and I'm calling him and he's not stopping for anything. He had a hole big enough to become lost dug in less than 3 minutes. I finally had to throw a toy at him ( no response) and he finally stopped when I got my golden to go crazy barking like there was someone at the door. Then he comes in but for some strange reason he does NOT like being toweled dry….so I have to hide the towel..grab him when he comes in and then produce the towel and dry him off. I try to make it pleasant and tell him good puppy and all that stuff but nope. He doesn't like the towel.

JRT's sound like a lot of fun but only if someone else owns them. I love those dogs but for my life style my German Shepherd works out better. Tried the laser pointer on my Shepherd. He swatted at it a couple of times and then smelled it. He then sat down and watched me and the red dot as I moved it around the room. He just walked off and I let him outside where he promptly took down a racoon before it could make it up the apple tree. He must have been POed about me teasing him with the laser.

[bmiller]

I bought my Dad on for Christmas one year, my Dad loved that dog, my Mother hated him. He was very possessive and held grudges. My wife yelled at him one time, the little bugger got mad and went into the front room and chewed up one of her new shoes to get even. In his later years, when my Dad would leave him in the truck longer than he wanted he would pee on the truck seat where my Dad sat. Gator had a very strong personality! That dog has been dead for 8 years, my Dad is still mourning him! My Mother would only consent to a black lab this time!