How do I stop my Jack Russell pulling on lead and being aggressive to other dogs. He is 2.5 years old, neutere

Answer 1

As Cesar Millan says, calm assertive. As a multiple dog owner I can tell you the reason he pulls to be in the lead is because he is showing dominance over you. You do not control the walk or where you both go but HE does.

Some dogs do get excited and happy to be outside, moreso they love walks. They have all this energy and want to use it. Need to use it. Your first step is walking him with the short leash. When you step out of your house, make sure he does not go out first but you do. Establish that you are leading him. That you are the big boss and not the other way around.

So once hes walking and starts to pull ahead, pull backwards until he is walking beside you not ahead of you. If you need to stop, do so. You can expect for him to smell other dogs nearby, marked spots and more. Don't let him investigate until he is calmed. Don't let him mark, don't let him sniff or scratch. If you do, he's seeing that he can get away with doing whatever he wants and that you will simply obey to whatever he asks for when asks for it. Thats a no.

When you come across another animal, his desire should be to smell not fight. If he barks and pulls the leash and struggles your hold it is because he is wanting to display dominance (or might even want to defend). Don't walk across the street or away from the other animal because you are not helping him overcome that aggression. When you feel the other animal has captured his attention; pull the leash a little. A quick quirk should be enough and "shhh" him. Do it over and over until you have his attention. Soon enough he should forget the other animal and if not entirely forget.. he should calm down enough to the point he could walk by that animal with little to no difficulty.

You can take him to all the obedience classes in the world and doggie daycares but you must learn to control him first before the obedience and daycares take its effect. Also, he can feel your excitement or fear. You don't want to give him 'negative' vibes. Once you do control him and set your position as leader or as Cesar says "Alpha" then take him over to those daycares. He will love them!

Answer 2

To be honest, I don't know what all is available in the UK. I also know that not every dog that does well on one kind of food will do well on another. I work in a petstore and usually recommend people check the ingredients labels. The first ingredient should always be meat. Be it Chicken, Lamb, Venison, Salmon, or something else. It doesn't matter. Stay away for vague meat referrences like meat and bone meal or meat by-product. If you can't know for sure what type of meat it is, chances are, the company is using the cheapest meat they can find. Meal is dried meat and bone mixture. There are different levels of protein quality of the meal since the majority of it is the remnant after the breasts were cut from the chicken or the steaks from the cow. I know Timberwolf Organics use meals with high protein content and low ash (which comes from the bones). You want to stay away from foods with a lot of corn, wheat, and soy in their top ingredients. Also, keep an eye out for foods that split grains (i.e. lists multiple same grain products). Personally, I'm not a big fan of by-products, but that's a whole big debate. By-products are parts of an animal that are not generally eaten by humans. I personally am not against eating hearts and livers (great for protein), but I worry about kidneys, intestines, and other organs considering the functions they play in the body. Stay away from artificial preservatives (BHT, BHA, ethyoxiquin). Find a food that uses mixed tocopherols. I saw a food earlier that had lard as it's 2nd or 3rd ingredient. Is that much lard healthy for us? We are not that different from our dogs and cats. Fruits and veggies in food is good (or just add the left over veggies your kids didn't eat at dinner to your dogs bowl, that's what I do). Be aware that too much protein or fat can be problems for older animals (imo 7 for a JRT isn't old, it's middle aged). Have an organ screen done at your vet at least every other year (every year is better) to just monitor the function levels of your dog's organs. Glucostamine, Condroitin (sp), and L-Carnitine are great supplements (usually already in high quality foods). The Glucostamine and Chondroitin help with keeping the cartiledge supple for a JRT's happy jumping. L-Carnitine helps keep from putting on too much weight. Hope this is helpful.

Answer 3

You will likely have a tough time finding a basic obedience class that will accept him, as he will put other dogs at risk. We have a class designed just for dogs who are reactive to other dogs while on leash. It is a small class and very well controlled. Check with local trainers to see if there is something like that in your area (usually called a Feisty Fido class, but ours is called Canine Charm School).

If you can't find a class, work with a private trainer and get the book Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell.

Be sure to use positive reinforcement training methods and slowly counter-condition him to other dogs. Punishment (leash corrections, hitting, yelling) are ineffective - they either make the dog more aggressive ("whenever dogs are around I am choked and hit - I HATE dogs!!!!") or cause him to just shut down and do nothing. That state can't last forever and he will act aggressively again. Counter-conditioning's goal is to teach him to have positive associations with other dogs. He is not going to behave aggressively if he thinks other dogs are pretty darn cool; he will hopefully wag and be happy to see dogs. If nothing else, he should think "Cool - a dog! I get to have fun with my dad now!"

Good luck!

Answer 4

I too am struggling with my JRT/Beagle mix. Mine is almost 2 and neutered as well. He pulls on the leash, but only when he sees another dog. I posted a question about this titled "Yet Another Jack Russell Terrier Issue" yesterday. Try looking through the answers I got. One in particular, I think was from Matt, seemed to make sense and I am going to try his suggestions.

Answer 5

This will take time and CONSISTENT training. Terriers in general are intelligent dogs, that being said, they can be difficult to train. I would schedule time to work with your dog on a lead at least once a day.

I had a Wire Fox Terrier and it took three weeks of consistent training to get her to heal properly and not pull against her lead.

In regards to the aggrerssive behavior towards other dogs, you might want to sign up for an obedience class where you'd have both the opportunity to work with your dog and allow your dog to socialize with other dogs.

Answer 6

You need to walk him for the first 10 minutes on a short lead,do not let him stop to sniff.After that let him stop and sniff,thats a reward not a right.Do not let him go out the door before you.He thinks he is leading you.You need to be the alpha,his leader.Jack Russells are head strong and he is controling you.When you encounter other dogs jerk his leash the second you see him displaying a focus on the other dog.Keep doing it every time he even looks at the other dog.Do not pat him while doing this as he thinks you are rewarding him for that behavior.

Answer 7

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/BIncI

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Answer 8

Make sure he knows and does a reliable "sit" command. When you see someone coming with a dog, put your dog in a "sit" until they pass, if they are going in the opposite direction.

If they are going your way, jog a short ways and keep your dogs attention by talking to him and saying his name.

If he starts to "focus" on a dog, that is stare intently, give a quick firm jerk on the leash and tell him, "Leave it." When he diverts his attention, praise and treat.

This is most likely fear aggression due to the fact that your dog's avenue to flee is restricted due to the leash. This is fairly common and can affect any dog, any size.

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Answer 9

one way to teach him not to pull on the lead is to get a choker one. they do not hurt them butthey teach them not to run or pull. now what you do is take the choker chain and put it behind his ears. not on his ears but a little bit behind them. i work at a shelter and this worked for a 120 pound siberian husky so you shouldnt have any problem with this working. now your dog not liking other dogs may just be something it wont get over. if you didnt get it when it was a puppy and socialized it then, then theres really no use. it may have to do with the nuetered thing also. it may be territorial or wanting to overpower the other dog.

Answer 10

Take him to obedience school. They will teach you the proper techniques to get your dog to behave on the leash.