Jrt Puppy Training Advice Needed

[imouttahere]

there is ALOT to be said for pigs ears...I'm finding these, Smackos, and devon cut up into tiny peices to be a godsend in the training department.

My 4.5mth old GSD has now stopped chasing my cat which is awesome however my new eddition to the family, my JRT x has taken up the chasing game. I admit my cat is partly to blame because I'm sure she enjoys the chase but it worries me incase one gets hurt.

Any ideas on training a JRT? So far he still bites/snaps/snatches when I'm trying to train him to sit for a treat (he's approximately 12wks). Am I starting to train too young?

Thanks for any advice

[Muttaburra]

I hope you can get some help for him, I think that 12 weeks would be fine to teach the basics. They are very "fast" dogs and you might need to adjust your "timing" differently than with the GSD.

Please ensure you cat always has a way of escaping, JrTs will quickly "team up" to catch another animal and it could teach your GSD bad habits.

[Flaves]

I have a 15mo jack called Mitchi.

Have had her from 8 weeks and we also have 2 cats. I have other dogs too.

Mitchi tried the cat chasing, my cats turn adn fight. 2 do 1 runs. The 2 who stand up for themselves taught Mitch not to chase. She backed down very quickly. We reinforced the cats status by growling at Mitch when she did chase them.

She was sinbinned a fair bit.

My cats are inside cats so there is no chance of her chasing them outise. ALthough if they do get out on the odd occasion Mitch, Barker and Hunta just want to say hi and give them a kiss.

I am not sure beside, growling and sinbinning what else you can do, other than putting you jack on a lead and treating her with food treats when she is nice to the cats. Start at the basics again and work forwards.

The snatching food out of my hands se did once.

Was told off firmly adn has NEVER done it again. I removed the food from reach when she went to snatch, growled LOUDLY and said gentle.

I kept repeating it until she was taking nicely. Now i just say gentle to remind her sometimes but she is pretty good.

My only other couple of reccomendations are:

*DO NOT have her/him sleep on the bed until he has learnt his place in the pack. ie BELOW you. We are having a couple of issues now that we wouldn;t have had if she had not been able to sleep in bed with us form a young age.

*Crate Train, we did from day 1. Can;t reccomend it enough

*Be consistent ALL THE TIME. DoNT let them get away with anything. Habits are too hard to break.

Good luck

[imouttahere]

I have a 15mo jack called Mitchi.

Have had her from 8 weeks and we also have 2 cats. I have other dogs too.

Mitchi tried the cat chasing, my cats turn adn fight. 2 do 1 runs. The 2 who stand up for themselves taught Mitch not to chase. She backed down very quickly. We reinforced the cats status by growling at Mitch when she did chase them.

She was sinbinned a fair bit.

My cats are inside cats so there is no chance of her chasing them outise. ALthough if they do get out on the odd occasion Mitch, Barker and Hunta just want to say hi and give them a kiss.

I am not sure beside, growling and sinbinning what else you can do, other than putting you jack on a lead and treating her with food treats when she is nice to the cats. Start at the basics again and work forwards.

The snatching food out of my hands se did once.

Was told off firmly adn has NEVER done it again. I removed the food from reach when she went to snatch, growled LOUDLY and said gentle.

I kept repeating it until she was taking nicely. Now i just say gentle to remind her sometimes but she is pretty good.

My only other couple of reccomendations are:

*DO NOT have her/him sleep on the bed until he has learnt his place in the pack. ie BELOW you. We are having a couple of issues now that we wouldn;t have had if she had not been able to sleep in bed with us form a young age.

*Crate Train, we did from day 1. Can;t reccomend it enough

*Be consistent ALL THE TIME. DoNT let them get away with anything. Habits are too hard to break.

Good luck

Uh oh, he's been sleeping in bed since he came to live with me. He was supposed to be my daughters dog but he's followed me around and sat at my feet or more so on my lap and slept next to my head in bed every day/night since I brought him home. Little guy has me wrapped around his paw now.

I gave my crate away when I stopped fostering and only have the laundry which is where my GSD has decided she wants to sleep tonight. I can't bear the cries from this little guy when he's locked away and I think it's due to separation anxiety and from what AWL told me, he sees me as his mum and wants to be as close to me as possible.

Currently he's snuggled up around my feet as I type. He's supposed to be sleeping in with my daughter but he cries at the door to be with me. Hmmm...what to do

[JRT RESCUE]

Ryally, I am sure I had a phone conversation with you recently where I recommended that you wait for 12 mths before getting a Jack.

Also yes your cat will probably get hurt as I explained with two dogs they usually team up and then the cat has no defence and usually ends up dead.

At 12 weeks a puppy SHOULD NOT be snaps/snatches and would be quite worried about that as if my memory is right you also have small children.

If you are the same person I can't believe you have gone ahead and got that Jack after spending so long on the phone and explaining the reasons for what I said.

Like I suggested take your 4.5mth GSD to training and in 12 mths then get a Jack because by that time you would have got your GSD under control but now you will probably have two out of control and a cat in danger.

I just hope all works out for you but have my doubts.

Edited June 19, 2007 by JRT RESCUE

[BC]

No biting, snapping etc should be tolerated. You have a hard task ahead of you 2 very different puppies.

My Foxy who is now 12 never snapped or anything so I do not have any experience in the recent years, but the lady who took me for puppy school with my other dogs, gently grabbed the snappy little JRT in class around the muzzell and said a firm NO every time he growled or tried to bite. They are not to bite. It may be cute now, but as they get older it gets more serious so do not tollerate it. This is for all dogs, not just JRT. Mayeb lay off on the treats and training until you have the biting/snapping a little more under control, just my opinion.

As for chasing the cat. The first sign of my dogs doing this, they would be picked up, without saying anything, and put in "time out" for about 1 minute. Cant play nice, dont play at all.

I make time out in the spare bathroom. Do not react to any crying, scratching etc, and when let out do not praise etc. Just act as if nothing has happened. You also may find you are doing this 5 times a day. Hopefully it will soon sink in that chasing the cat is not on.

Good luck, you will need it,

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

My JRT is quite the handful, but at the same time she has learnt some things very quickly. By 10 weeks of age she was sitting on command and then I went from there - she then learnt how to drop and then I taught her how to wait patiently for the treat so as to stop her from snatching the treat out of my hand and subsequently connecting with one of my fingers, because that hurt! haha.

She is now 4 months of age and still has all the basics down pat, but I have had to work very hard with her every day in order to assert myself as the leader of our little pack (it's just her and I). She still challenges me on occasion but I quickly put her in her place. JR's in particular are fiesty little dogs but bundles of energy and you need to be prepared to put in just as much energy into their training.

I would suggest training every day, just for a few minutes at a time because their attention span doesn't hold for long, but make the training fun and rewarding. Jak loves chopped up bits of sausage and recognises these as a great reward for doing what I ask her to do. I initially used liver treats but she musn't have thought they were worth it haha.

And of course puppy pre-school :-)

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

Oh, forgot to mention that Jak still bites, but nowhere near as much as she used to. I have tried the muzzle thing and the loud NO, time outs, spraying my hands with Aeroguard, yelping to show her she's hurt me etc. None of those things have worked. I have now moved on to yelping and walking away and completely ignoring her. She seems to be reacting to this one because she's losing her playmate, which was not her aim.

This has been one of the things that she is learning very....slowly.

[imouttahere]

I hope what I said didn't come across so drastic. It's not a huge problem and isn't constant. It's only now and again and is something I just wanted some outside the box tips on to further training.

My GSD no longer chases the cat, she's learnt to ignore her and now they sit on the couch and sleep on the bed together. Now the dog walks past her and she puts out a paw and has a playful nip at the dog instead.

As for the JRT pup, she just wants to play with the cat and when I growl at her she stops straight away.

I love that you guys are so passionate but phew, sometimes I read some opinions and it's difficult to take it objectionally.

Not that I need to justify myself but please note that I am home all the time and have the time and patience to teach the rules. My GSD and I have done puppy school and are now going to start at Castle Hill on Monday nights to further her education. As for the other pup, she and I will go to puppy school and off to Castle Hill just as soon as she's ready.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jill but I'm investing my time and money into this 100% and am seeing the results every day. No new addition to the family is without teething problems and to be hung, drawn and quartered for asking advice on how to assist in ironing out the creases is not what I need.

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

I'm confused. Did you not write "Any ideas on training a JRT? So far he still bites/snaps/snatches when I'm trying to train him to sit for a treat (he's approximately 12wks). Am I starting to train too young?

Thanks for any advice"

As far as I can tell we responded accordingly (with the one exception).

I wish you all the best with the JRT, they're a joy :-)

[imouttahere]

I'm confused. Did you not write "Any ideas on training a JRT? So far he still bites/snaps/snatches when I'm trying to train him to sit for a treat (he's approximately 12wks). Am I starting to train too young?

Thanks for any advice"

As far as I can tell we responded accordingly (with the one exception).

I wish you all the best with the JRT, they're a joy :-)

Well I was leaving the option open for any advice.

Toby now sits when asked and does not snatch the treats. He's a model student. I am just guilty of not persisting first but to jump online and ask the lovely people on DOL to give me some ideas in case something else might work to what I was doing. Next time I'll spell it out better.