New addition to the family!I need help!!!

thesoundguy1

My fiance and I brought home a new Jack Russell Terrier puppy Saturday.He is eight weeks old, and has an attitude about 10 times his size.The terrier mix that we saved from the pound about 4 months ago is none to happy either.The JRT, despite his dimunitive size,make regular challenges to the "big dog".Most time is quiet around the house, but the battle of wills between me and this "Jack Russell TERROR" is daily.If he wasn't so damn cute,I would have drop-kicked him across the street.I'm open to suggestions about how to handle the JRT from anyone with experience.It's my understanding that these are some of the most intellegent dogs bred today.But. I can't seem to get past the attitude, and the constant challenge to authority, to teach him anything!

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The new wave in free expression.

mcneely77

Congrats on the new family member. I had a blue tic that absolutely gave me fits. She was the most strong willed dog I have ever seen or heard of. When my 7 month old was born we had to get rid of her. I still miss her after all the sh#t she gave me.

Do not mistake my kindness for weakness.

IALEFI, ASLET, NRA, and proud owner of a pair of S&W revolvers.

thesoundguy1

I've had many dogs in my 39 years on this planet, but this one is sooo
determined to be the boss!And I'm not about to let him rule the roost!
I'm looking online for more info about "breaking" a Jack Russell Terror!

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The new wave in free expression.

thesupermonkey

TheSoundGuy,
A) You have to be consistent, this includes everyone in your house.
No aggressive games like play fighting or tug of war, until he's older.

I treat my dogs like I would my kid. If he snaps at me, he gets a light thump on the nose/slap on the rear, if he continues it gets harder until he backs off. He WILL back off as long as you are consistent and don't encourage his aggressive behavior because you think he's cute. Another thing to watch for is his behavior with food. Offer him a piece of jerky too large for him to eat, tell him to drop it, and try taking it away from him. If he snaps at you, punish him. He has to learn he isn't the big dog of the house. Nip that behavior in the bud! A strong alpha male disposition can be cute now but it can be serious if it's not corrected.

The corrective collars are wonderful if you don't mind investing the $100 dollars in one.

Munkey


The itsy, bitsy spider crawled up the water...
BLAM BLAM BLAM!

JustC

The collars are good. My yellow lab is a wall climber, to say the least. The collar makes her much calmer. Of course, like supermonkey says, a good whack when needed will also teach a dog, any dog, to respect you as the alpha male. They don't get their feelings hurt, they understand things from a pack mentality. You have to be the top dog. My 155lb male rotty will roll over and offer his belly when I walk in the room, because he was taught as a puppy, challenging my authority as alpha male, was, well,.......not recommended.

A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.

offeror

8 weeks is a little young to train in much but the basics, like potty training and a few other simple behaviors. You might try accompanying the word "no" with a push, instead of a swat. Mother dogs can't swat, yet they train their pups in some things by pushing them away or picking them up and moving them. Pups want attention. Don't swat much, or you'll wind up swatting harder and regret it later. I have made the mistake in the past of thinking I knew enough about dogs not to get a trainer involved at all. You may need some pro advice on the breed, at least temporarily to get you started.

For one thing, a terrier's level of activity and need for exercise exceeds that of some other breeds. A daily long walk or outdoor play should come before freaking out about overactivity. A tired dog is a more trainable dog.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

offeror

By the way, you're not going to like this, maybe, but pups do the very best in homes where someone is home with them all the time. That way, every behavior is trained and corrected every time and bad habits are "bred out." I have a very good dog, whom I happened to get when I was laid off 5 years ago. The training went a lot better with me there all the time. She even learned to enjoy being by herself in the fenced back yard while I was at work all day when I went back. The only problem was the winters were too harsh for this dog, so the cage finally became a necessity. You should not make the mistake I did of not introducing the cage and making it the "indoor refuge." If dogs learn to hate the cage (or kennel), you've got additional problems when leaving the dog home alone. Trust me, you don't want a hyperactive dog with separation anxiety running loose within reach of ANYTHING valuable while you're gone.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Clair

Just C got it right. You MUST take control. He needs to know eariler on who is the boss. Cute will wear off, bad habits won't.

pickenup

I am kinda surprised that no one has mentioned this yet.
You had the answer all along.
You printed it.
"Drop-kick him across the street."
Just foolin with ya
I got birds now, forgot what I used to know about training dogs.

The gene pool needs chlorine.

rameleni1

I don't own a dog, but this post reminds me of training one of my parrots. I bought a parrot 13 years ago. It was hand-fed and raised, very nice parrot. after one week, I feld very bad that the bird will be by itself for 80+ years. It looked very lonely. I went shopping for the cheapest parrot I could find as a mate. The original purchase was 1300.00 with cage. I finally found a parrot for 500.00. It was taken from a tree in South America. When I picked up the parrot at the store, it bit me 5 times in 3 seconds. I had blood running all over the store floor. I couldn't afford another 1200.00 parrot, so I decided to buy it, and train it. I bought all of the books, and read online how to train it. I followed all of the instructions for 2 months. Nothing worked. I finally reached my limit. I put the new parrot on my bed, and tried to pick it up. Bite!. I slapped the bird in the head very hard, rolling it over. I tried again, bite!. I did slapped the bird again. Third time I gave my hand, it went on my hand, no slap. From that day, the parrot never bit me again.

Rameleni1

n4thethrill

my dad has a JRT had same proablems vet advised him to take the pup turn it belly up and just hold it. worked great on dad's pup

you can be king or street sweeper but everyone is going to dance with the reaper

idsman75

I had a battle of wills with a pit bull. Some may disagree with my tactics but you have to establish that you are the alpha male. Pack animals do this by a display of force. I would never the abuse of an animal nor imparting any sort of force that would temporarily or permanantly injur an animal. What I did, IMHO, equates to a swat on the diaper-clad bottom of a young child. It doesn't really hurt but it gets the point across.

While deployed to Honduras the Joint Security Force had a pet. It was a pit bull and her name was Knucklehead. Knucklehead was adorable as heck and she became a very obedient dog after I spent some time with her. I exercised her and fed her and even let her crawl into bed with me a few times. I was probably her only true friend during the six months that I was in country because the Air Force guys just kept her tied up to the staircase outside of their huts. One day Knucklehead decided that she'd try to take a piece of my hand as a snack. I did absolutely nothing to provoke her. I reached down to do a little grooming one day and she just bit me. As a matter of fact she drew a little blood while she was at it. In an instant I picked her up and put her on her back in one swift motion. She yipped but was not injured. From that point on she "snapped to attention" whenever I approached her. Her wagging tail displayed a small lack of discipline while sitting at the position of attention but I couldn't hold it against such an adorable creature. I miss that dog and I just hope that the Air Force is treating her better than they were back in 1998.

DancesWithSheep

With a JRT, the best you can hope for is to minimize the behavior; you will never eliminate it. It's the very nature of the breed.

Often the mind believes it is thinking, when it is only passing from one metaphor to the next.

timberbeast

N4thethrill nailed it. Never had a terrier, but have trained many Labs, and a Alpha has to be shown that is NOT the Alpha, you are. A dog is a pack animal, and the Alpha is the one that can put another on its back and hold it there as long as it wants to, that is how the pack is run. The leader will never keep attacking his lesser once the lesser shows its belly. My best Lab ever, George, was Alpha all the way, and I was the only human who could lay him on his back. If you establish this right now, the dog will listen to you (most of the time!). It won't help with your other dog unless it can do the same thing. Everytime that pup gets out of hand, lay it on its back and hold it, trust me, it will not like it, it will fight, but it will get the message, and this is the right time to start. A few things that I've learned about training dogs, that I believe are the most important:
Punishment "after the fact", is always a step backwards. If a dog runs off, and you punish it when it comes back, you just taught the dog not to come back, as it will associate any punishment with the last thing that it did.
The most important command for ANY dog to learn, and learn young, is "NO!" Could save the dog's life, and a lot of grief and headaches as well.
As far as other things, you want your dog to live for one thing: To please you! Rewarding a dog with personal attention and lavish praise when it does right is far more effective than punishment. It will crave the praise. Forget food rewards, If your pocket is empty, why should it listen? I'd also advise against a shock collar if you have a temper. Some people use them out of frustration and ruin dogs with them. They should never be used until a dog KNOWS a command and purposely ignores it, Then they are magic, and have to be used seldom. Good luck, we have a new pup of our own!