Re: 2yr old jack russell snapping at people

In Reply to: 2yr old jack russell snapping at people
Category:   Behavior Problems
Posted by:  Stephanie
Posted on:  January 30, 2002 at 12:08:02

: I have a JR that is almost 2, he was given to us about 6 months ago. He has been neutered and like many others is very active. He is very loving towards myself, my husband and our two children but he has snapped at 3 visitors at our home. HELP! I need advice on how to make things better.

Response:
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Hi Stpehanie,

As with most terriers, these guys can get very territorial. What you need to do is socialize him more and condition him to having people enter your home. A course in basic obedience will help you tremendously with this problem. You will then be able to give your terrier commands like "sit/stay" or "down/stay" whenever people approach your door.

Don't expect results overnight, you need to do behavior modification which requires time, patience and consistency.

Engage some of your friends to help by spending time coming in and out of your house. Do set ups this way. Have someone come while you have your terrier on a leash and when he goes at the door you give him a firm "NO" and a leash correction. This will have to be repeated a lot before he will get the idea.

As I said, obedience school is really your best bet to help solve this problem as you will have the benefit of a professional to show you the proper way to do a leash correction and coordinate with a verbal command. Just saying "NO NO NO" or "STOP STOP STOP" desensitizes your dog to verbal commands. You say a command once and then back it up with a correction..you have 3 seconds between the verbal to make the correction.