At my wit's end.

[Clivey]

Morning everyone. I apologise in advance for grammar / spelling / typos because I'm utterly knackered.

My partner and I are currently looking after her parents' 9-month-old Jack Russell Terrier whilst they are on holiday for two weeks. - It's day four and I've had enough already. I cannot function at work because I'm utterly shattered due to him.

The problem is that a JR is totally the wrong dog for my partner's parents (they clearly know nothing about training etc. & let the dog establish itself as "pack leader") and they've done their utmost to turn him into a little st so far. I am used to dogs (though not terriers) but this little guy is quickly driving me mad.

To give you an idea of what I mean; here are some examples from this morning:

• He sleeps in a cage downstairs overnight. When we get up and take him outside so that he can have a wee first thing, we (still) have to put him on his lead because otherwise he dives off into the bushes and won't come out again (he has previously escaped from the garden through a hole in the fence behind these bushes that the owners were unaware of and have since blocked) or generally runs circles around you. I think this is because he thinks it's a game to run away from people - my partner's Dad chases him around the house shouting, clapping his hands and acting like a tt (I've tried telling him but he's a "know it all").

• When he is on his lead, he tries his hardest to pull your arm out if it's socket. I have tried to train him not to pull but it seems to be having zero effect. As soon as you take a single step, he's using the lead like a bungee cord. Apparently, he "doesn't do that" with his owners, but their last dog did and I've not seen him once walk nicely yet.

• Biting: He has not been taught that he shouldn't bite humans. We try not to do anything to excite / encourage him but he is unpredictable and you can't get a moment without him sinking his teeth into you or...

• Barking: All the fking time. He's doing it for attention, but ignoring him isn't working. We try to play as much as possible but he just bites (see above) and is overly aggressive and possessive around his toys.

• Jumping: Again; hasn't been taught it's not appropriate. When you tell him "off" or "down", he just barks at you as if in argument / challenging you.

• He's all over the furniture: As soon as you've got him off one sofa, he's on the other...

and when you want to contain him (either to go out, to work, put him in his cage or get him on his lead), he runs away from you. I had to turn the dining room table on it's side yesterday (otherwise he hides underneath it and runs circles around you if you go under to fetch him) and it still took half an hour to get him in his cage. Offering treats / toys doesn't work because I swear he knows what you're trying to do and isn't having any of it. It's like trying to catch a ferret!

As you can see, I'm at a loss with this one and have tried everything I can think of (as well as out of books etc.) except "corporal punishment", as I know that's not the answer, though I know my partner's Dad does hit him etc. usually . PLEASE HELP!

[Simpo Two]

No help but when faced with a yappy dog I always think of...

[ali_kat]

To be fair to his owners, some JRs just will not learn

That said, this bit

Clivey said:

I know my partner's Dad does hit him etc. usually . PLEASE HELP!

Makes me think that I'd be rehoming him whilst they are away for his own safety to a GOOD home where he will be trained by people that can handle him! And telling them tearfully upon their return that there was a horrible accident whilst they were away & unfortunately he has gone to rainbow bridge

I'm not a great believer in applying the 'pack' mentality either

I'm sure someone with more experience than me will be along in a moment with better advice however

Edited by ali_kat on Thursday 30th May 13:39

[bexVN]

A thoroughly spoilt dog, going to be all the more harder due to his age.

I would refuse to ever have him over again!! How long have you got him for because you are unlikely to alter anything in a few days.

Does he respond to an extremely firm voice? Re: ignoring barking this can take a lot of patience but you must not give in. Only respond once he stops. It will never work other wise. Biting- as soon as he bites shout out Loudly and as if in pain OUCH then stand up walk away into another room and shut the door on him this again must be done EVERY time he tries to bite and at the first attempt, not the third or fourth time he tries. These guidelines are usually for much younger pups but no reason why you can't implement them. Though all pointless if the owners won't continue with the training.

Walking is he on collar and lead, if so he needs halti or a harness. I assume he isn't allowed off lead, ashame if so as he would benefit from off lead running.

[Munter]

Phone local kennels.

Put dog in car.

Deposit dog at kennels.

Tell the owners to pick it up and pay the bill when they get home.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Not much you can do really, I have 2 x JR (ones a cross) . One is a complete st we are firm with him, but he still exhibits similar traits to your parents!

Its true some just dont easily learn at all, or more importantly dont want to!! Last year we got a second COllie/JR cross, he was a feral dog from a farm. Within a year he is perfectly trained and civilized. I can walk him round anywhere with no lead, respects commands, gets on and off furniture when we want. Yet our older 1st JR is a complete PITA and no matter how many times I reinforce commands he tries his luck!!

But, you could end up quite enjoying him , mines a complete st, but is lovely underneath, he just wants to patrol and work 24-7 with no breaks.

I would:

• Buy a plant sprayer and spray him with water when he misbehaves
• Buy a pet corrector/compressed air spray and spray him when he misbehaves
• HAve treats on you all the time and reinforce good behavior (this is far better than the above two points)
• Take him out for loads of exercise, ideally with a ball/toy, if anything else it will tire him out
• Stand your ground, never back off

Actually I have re-read the original post, there isn't really anything you can do in the limited time, I would just get compressed air/water and spray at him till he behaves, not the propper answer but it might scare him into behaving

JRs can be really tough dogs at times to train and look after, people think they will be easy as they are small and often look cute

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Thursday 30th May 17:17

[Clivey]

Simpo Two said:

No help but when faced with a yappy dog I always think of...

Last night, I think I said something along the lines of "Ram a stick up his arse and use him as a duster" to my partner (not that I would actually do that of course!).

Another thing I've noticed is that he doesn't seem to associate hands with getting a fuss etc. - half the time, he runs away / bites when you put your hand near (even very slowly, with an open palm). I'm used to the exact opposite as my partner's last dog knew that hands brought good things. - He used to come and put his head on your hand / nuzzle your hand when he wanted something.

ali_kat said:

To be fair to his owners, some JRs just will not learn

That said, this bit

Clivey said:

I know my partner's Dad does hit him etc. usually . PLEASE HELP!

Makes me think that I'd be rehoming him whilst they are away for his own safety to a GOOD home where he will be trained by people that can handle him! And telling them tearfully upon their return that there was a horrible accident whilst they were away & unfortunately he has gone to rainbow bridge

Actually, I was hoping that if I managed to make some progress with him, they would see & acknowledge it on their return. - I've taught him to play fetch because at least it's a game that doesn't involve him biting us...that is once he's used to the "Give." part of the game.

ali_kat said:

I'm not a great believer in applying the 'pack' mentality either.

What do you mean by that?

bexVN said:

A thoroughly spoilt dog, going to be all the more harder due to his age.

I would refuse to ever have him over again!! How long have you got him for because you are unlikely to alter anything in a few days.

We've got him for 10 more days...though at the moment, it feels like a life sentence. - We were obligated to look after him because we looked after their last dog (Collie / JR cross) when they went away. The difference was that their last dog was partly trained by my partner (their daughter) when she lived with them before we bought our house. - He was by no means perfect (separation anxiety, no recall training etc.) but much easier than this little rascal and even after staying with us for a couple of days, the last one was much calmer & happier than at home.

bexVN said:

Does he respond to an extremely firm voice?

Largely, no. - If you use a firm voice when he's barking / snapping, he sees it as a challenge and barks more and/or starts jumping & biting.

bexVN said:

Re: ignoring barking this can take a lot of patience but you must not give in. Only respond once he stops. It will never work other wise.

I read about this the other day and have been trying to put it into practice. Sometimes it works, sometimes he bites to regain your attention.

bexVN said:

Biting- as soon as he bites shout out Loudly and as if in pain OUCH then stand up walk away into another room and shut the door on him this again must be done EVERY time he tries to bite and at the first attempt, not the third or fourth time he tries.

I've tried the "yelp" then ignoring him, but haven't tried walking away myself (hard to do when you're in the middle of cooking or eating). - I'll try that and see how we get on. I've tried shutting him out of the room I'm in and he usually calms down after a minute (as long as he doesn't see something in the room he can get up to mischief with).

bexVN said:

These guidelines are usually for much younger pups but no reason why you can't implement them. Though all pointless if the owners won't continue with the training.

I feared that would be the case. I feel that anything we accomplish will all be undone within a day.

bexVN said:

Walking is he on collar and lead, if so he needs halti or a harness. I assume he isn't allowed off lead, ashame if so as he would benefit from off lead running.

After previous complaints by us to the owner, they bought a harness, which has improved things slightly but I had previously suggested a halti to the owner. - They won't buy one though (they did not give a reason). - Again, my partner's Dad is a know-it-all. - To give you an idea, he once told me that he wouldn't bother getting his rear brake pads / discs changed because he "doesn't park on hills". - He thought the rear brakes were only used by the hand/parking brake. I also recently had to tell him to buy new tyres after seeing that the fronts on his wife's car were illegal (he wondered why he was getting wheelspin out of junctions in the wet).

[bexVN]

Normally you would shut the dog out of the room but I saw you'd mentioned having to chase him round the room sometimes so I didn't want you having to do this when you are attempting to apply control!

[ali_kat]

I mean I don't believe in treating dogs as pack animals whole Ceasar Milan crap

Dogs are dogs, we are already dominant to them, we need to treat them with respect.

[Ryn36]

Another thing I've noticed is that he doesn't seem to associate hands with getting a fuss etc. - half the time, he runs away / bites when you put your hand near (even very slowly, with an open palm).


^^This, coupled with your comment about physical punishment, may explain a lot of his "running away" behaviours.

As mentioned, there's not much you can do with "only" (!) 10 days, but I do believe you could see some signs of improvements - you have already, by teaching him "fetch" - 9 months is plenty young enough for them to pick things up if they decide to be receptive; the battle, of course, is finding out how best to get him into the "receptive" mood!


From your post, there’s so many issues that need addressing… all of which would require hard work and dedication!

Since you can’t address them all but clearly need to find a way of getting through the next 10 days, I’d pick the ones that will either help you and the dog work together or that will help quell others of his exhibited behaviours.


For example, the furniture/sofa issue I would address, as you mention that he exhibits guarding and aggressive tendencies.

It will be hard to consistently implement, as you’ve found, but a firm “OFF” every time he jumps up, with encouragement in the form of throwing an incredibly high-value treat (liver cake is the go-to! Never met a dog who doesn’t go nuts for it) onto the floor where he’d jump down to. Don’t hold the treat out to him to encourage him off – you say he’s wise to that game. If he’s prone to running off/not coming when called, I’d wager that his owners hold the treat out to entice him closer and then grab him, so he’s no doubt associating held-out hands and treats with something unsettling happening to him. If it takes him 5 minutes to do as he’s told, so be it. Patience will be the making of this relationship – it sounds like he’s never been out-waited before!

The biggest help will probably be a calm environment, especially when dealing with him, and a routine. For the garden/weeing issue, perhaps you could just go straight out on a walk instead of letting him out and getting into an escalated situation? If he’s had 9 months of (as it’s known in our house) “dicking round outside”, he’s not going to break that in 10 days, so for your sanity and in an effort to maintain a calm environment, it’s probably best to just avoid that situation happening altogether.


The other major thing that you could work on that would no doubt help with other areas is just plain ol’ bonding with him, like you’ve started to do with the fetch game. Not shouting at him and rewarding any good (or, in this instance, “not bad”) behaviours you see. Have treats on you all the time. He stops barking for three seconds? Say “QUIET” straight away, then treat him, with excessive praise. In this situation, it doesn’t matter if he immediately starts barking again (other than your sanity going out the window!). Ignore the barking. When he stops (if you’re still nearby), “QUIET” with treats and praise again. The sooner he starts to associate you with treats, good things, no shouting and a nice, calm environment, the more chance you stand of getting him into a receptive mode whereby you can start to address his myriad of other issues.




Exercise, by the way…. You say he’s on-lead all the time. I’m afraid that means lots and lots and lots and lots of walks…. A tired dog is a receptive dog. A tired and “waiting for my dinner” dog even more so. 3-5 minutes of training – even just things like SIT, WAIT, etc – before dinner and after a walk, will go a long, long way to establishing a healthy relationship between the two of you.




um……. Good luck!

[cwis]

ali_kat said:

I mean I don't believe in treating dogs as pack animals whole Ceasar Milan crap

Dogs are dogs, we are already dominant to them, we need to treat them with respect.

Agree mostly.

I don't buy the dominant thing, but if you rename "pack" as "family" he makes some valid points.

One thing the human/canine relations DO need (and this is MY theory rather than Ceasar's!) is two way respect.

The OP's mum's dog has not learned that yet (and may never, unfortunately).

There are many ways to earn a dogs respect, good and bad.

They should respect your ability to feed them - and how you feed them can help here. Ceasar mentions this quite correctly.

They shouldn't repect your fists or boots, but unfortunately this also also is a way of establishing control - one of many possible side effects (especially with terriers as far as I am concerned!) is they they learn that violence can be an answer to some of THEIR problems.

One of the two things recently I recall as having a profound affect on my dog are (and they are here to illustrate how many different and disparate ways there are to garner respect rather than any particular guidelines).

1). Turning a gas fire on when it was chilly. She'd never seen one before and the look of astonishment was hilarious. She watched me carefully for the rest of the evening just in case I did any other clever stuff.

Now she pokes it with her nose and does puppy eyes at me if she thinks it's a bit cold.

2). Cleaning out her ears. Since I had her I noticed they were a bit mucky. Dogs can be funny about their ears so I adopted a watch and wait policy (also a form of respect) as I didn't NEED to do anything.

Recently she'd been trying to get one of her paws down there for a good old scratch so they weren't that sensitive. I got a cloth and had a good old explore, while NOT holding her so if it hurt she could wince away. She didn't and in fact tried to impale her head on the cloth on occasion.

The result was clean shiny ears and no more itching...

I went back to what I was doing in the garage, and she dragged herself off the sofa for a couple of hours and just stood in there with me, watching what I did. Complete hero worship. Didn't last long.

Terriers in general are (again IMHO) little buggers until they get to about three. Or five if they are English Bull Terriers....

You can make them scared of you by beating them to a pulp and you will get some measure of control, but a better way is to be patient with them and earn their respect by controlling their access to food, attention, affection etc. They are stubborn with a tail, so you have to be completely unbending - what you say, MUST go at least when they are young.

Show that you are more intelligent, better at food providing, more entertaining etc etc than they are and they will respect you for it. After all, they're not stupid.

[Willy Nilly]

My JRT was good as gold from the off. He had is collar on shortly after I got him, I soon had him walking on a lead and sitting and house trained within no time. He was a good lad, good enough to be manageable and naughty enough to be a Jack Russell.

A place I make deliveries to have 2 JRT biatches (mum and daughter) which are good as gold, daughter had a little and they kept one. I don't think they did anything magical to her, just a few basic ground rules and she's just as well behaved as mum and grandma.

[dundarach]

Munter said:

Phone local kennels.

Put dog in car.

Deposit dog at kennels.

Tell the owners to pick it up and pay the bill when they get home.

This, why are you messing about...

Or garage

[Ryn36]

cwis said:

Terriers in general are (again IMHO) little buggers until they get to about three. Or five if they are English Bull Terriers....

a better way is to be patient with them and earn their respect by controlling their access to food, attention, affection etc.

They are stubborn with a tail, so you have to be completely unbending - what you say, MUST go at least when they are young.

Show that you are more intelligent, better at food providing, more entertaining etc etc than they are and they will respect you for it. After all, they're not stupid.

^^ These are fantastic points.

Terriers are stubborn; the one you've got has issues on top of stubborness.... patience, affection, calmness and respect should work wonders.

[cwis]

Ryn36 said:

^^ These are fantastic points.

Terriers are stubborn; the one you've got has issues on top of stubborness.... patience, affection, calmness and respect should work wonders.

I love 'em. But you can't breed something to meet a badger face to face in the dark on its own and expect it to be a complete pushover when it comes to obedience.

Tell a Lab to do something and they will. A terrier will ask "why?"

It's a very good question!

[King Herald]

When they are on the other side of a good fence they can't bite, jump up or run away.

My wife had lots of ideas about training our mongrel mob, watched The Dog Whisperer religiously, but they simply don't want to be trained. They do as I tell them, as I am the alpha male, but when I'm away they run riot, just ignore her.

How many can you count in the picture.

[Ryn36]

cwis said:

Tell a Lab to do something and they will. A terrier will ask "why?"

It's a very good question!

I've not worked out a good enough answer yet!

So true!

[ADM06]

Mine was two a few days ago, and it's fair to say he's a bit of a character. He pulls on the lead (although this has improved), we can't let him off the lead since he ran off, barks at noises outside, nips people who wake him up at the wrong time and just generally doesn't listen. It's a good job he's cute.
Lots of exercise is the only way I've found to keep his energy in check, and even that isn't terribly effective. I'll be watching this thread for other peoples suggestions.

[Clivey]

Many thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions so far. - You've been very helpful.

As you can no doubt imagine, I have my hands full at the moment. - I'm at work now and will reply to specific comments when I get five minutes!