Jack Russell Terriers

In November of 1982, I was "introduced" to what would turn out to be my most treasured pet of all time, my beautiful tri-colour Jack Russell terrier - Dinky. A gift from my godfather, and originally named Tinker, she greeted me for the first time with a bite to the end of my nose!

She was so tiny, it did not take long for me to give her a "permanent" name more befitting her size.

Despite her size, she was a big dog inside. Her bark was something a much bigger dog would have been proud of and she was absolutely fearless. But it was her devotion that made her stand out the most. She would be waiting to greet me on a morning and could time to the second when I was due home in an evening. After an excitable greeting, she would remain at my side or on my lap until it was time for bed.

But she was not the perfect dog in terms of training, and as I look back, I can spot a few behavioral issues that I overlooked or just plain ignored at the time. I'm going to discuss a few of them throughout this lens and let you know what I should have done!

There are so many different breeds of dog that you may wonder whether getting a Jack Russell Terrier is the right choice for you. Here are a few reasons why you should think about bringing one of these lovely dogs into your family.

• Variety - there are not many dog breeds where you can choose from such a wide range of coat types and sizes from miniature to mid terrier size while still being true to type
• Loyalty - JRTs are loyal and faithful to the end. They will love you unconditionally
• Comedy - Jack Russells can be really comical to watch.
• Intelligence - they are clever dogs and can be easy to train if you make sure you position yourself squarely as pack leader. They will test you regularly and try to be your boss if you let them though

I mentioned earlier in the lens that my first Jack Russell had a few bad habits that I either ignored or did not realise I needed to correct her (or perhaps it was my bad habit for not dealing with them?). Well here are a few from the top of my head:

• Dinky was dog aggressive - usually against dogs much bigger than her
• She used to jump up on my lap or the furniture without my permission
• She trained me to pet her on command!
• Submissive urination and peeing with excitement were a problem at times
• Despite having open access to outdoors day and night, she would mess indoors through the night - either because it was too cold or she was just lazy!

Nowadays, the answers to these common Jack Russell Terrier training problems (and more advanced dog training techniques) can be found easily in books, videos and over the internet, but back then if you needed to train your dog, you more or less had to consult a professional trainer.

I loved my little Jack Russell and let her get away with a lot of things that I would not tolerate today (raising three children has reinforced my belief in the need for boundaries!!)

Dinky never waited for me to invite her to sit on my lap, she would just jump up and I would pet her. MISTAKE! By petting her, I was reinforcing her behavior. By jumping on you or your furniture, your dog is showing dominance over you. This lack of respect can lead to more serious behavioral problems.

These days, I do not allow pets on the furniture. They sit beside my legs, or I sit on the floor with them. This doesn't mean I love them any less, it is just easier to set things in black and white that the furniture is always out of bounds, hence avoiding any confusion for the dog.

If your dog has learned it is OK to jump on furniture and you want it to stop, you need to be consistent - correct her when she is on the furniture and praise/reinforce if she is sat good on the floor.

When I mentioned about some of Dinky's problem behaviors, I talked about the fact she would pee 'indoors' at night, despite having access to the garden, but I have a confession to make - I think this one was bad behavior on the part of myself and my Dad!

You see, out of habit, we used to put newspaper down in a corner of the enclosed porch where the dogs spent the night, which was basically saying "it is ok to go on the paper - you don't need to go outside if you don't want to"

Unless you live in an apartment, or your dog is left for any length of time where she will not be able to hold it in, then you should not try and teach them dual methods of housetraining (ie, paper training and outdoor toileting). Using paper or potty pads can be an option, but if your dog can get outside to pee, you should not put any paper down and she will make the effort to go outside!

Check out the Squidoo Directory - it's a user friendly way of finding lenses on all manner of subjects