LisaMuz

Hello Everyone I just wanted to provide an update. All is well. I am now in charge of the household. When Henry attacks my ugg boots (whilst wearing them) my hand goes straight down and over his mouth and he releases without injury. He is now 13 months old. I learnt a lot from the vet who came to my home and I was prescribed medication for him to reduce the hyperactivity and aggression but I chose not to use it unless I became absolutely desperate. In short I pick my battles. Ive learnt that after a "NO" if I quickly ask cheerfully "where's your ball" I can mostly redirect his behaviour. He is an exhausting, hyperactive dog so I have a Nerf ball gun and we play fetch for at least an hour a day. Sometimes I stand still and show him the naughty finger without speaking and he promptly sits and even whimpers a little so he knows when I am not happy with him. He will push the boundaries at times like nipping my bottom when I am washing up at the sink but I can get him to stop fairly quickly. I watch Youtube clips every day about dog training, I have had to change my own behaviour. I try to be calm and confident and I never snatch or do quick movements around him. His prey drive is in his genes so I am always mindful of this. I certainly chose the wrong breed of dog but I love him more and more each day and look forward to him becoming a senior and quietening down - the net says not until age 9 or 10 for JRTs....... Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice last year.

Thank you for all the wonderful and valuable information. As I am 57 years old and a first time dog owner there was no way I would have considered another dog and my plan only was to rehouse with an experienced Jack Russell owner. His welfare and happiness is the most important thing to me. I will let everyone know how things are going but at this stage we went to the vet on Friday and he has encouraged me to have a behaviouralist vet do a home visit. I am going to take this course of action for a few months. I didn't write it in the first post but Henry was attacked whilst we were walking last December. A woman had a cattle dog off the leash and she obviously couldn't control it as it came up to us and had a "go" at poor Henry who had been wagging his tail as he loves people and other dogs. This was very traumatizing for me; the local council ranger has been wonderful trying to track down the offending dog and owner, to no avail. No injuries thankfully. This has also made me very nervous to walk him.

I have an 8 month year old desexed male dog who is great 95% of the time. But on the odd occasion he savagely has a "go" at me. Examples of this would be when I am trying to cover up cat poo he is eating, trying to shut the dishwasher door when he was licking a plate, trying to take a cricket or beetle off him or recently even a plastic peg. He is now doing it more often like when I tried to pick him up to put him in the car this week and when I tried to get him to get off the lounge. I don't have broken skin but it is frightening for me and I have become scared of him. When he is doing the wrong thing I am too scared to try to put him in the cage or isolate him outside as I feel if I reach for him he is going to bite me. I am thinking I am going to have to rehouse him as I think the breed was the wrong choice for a first time dog owner. Any guidance would be appreciated. Anyone looking for a dog could contact me. I am in the Maitland NSW area. We went to puppy school and he was nicknamed the "ratbag" and the teacher said I had chosen the wrong breed.