Raising our Jack Russell Terrier Puppy: things we've learned

Gumbo is now three month's old.  He's our second Jack Russell puppy.  Both puppies were 8 weeks old when we brought them home.  You would think that after having our first one for almost 15 years, we would be pros at this. Not so!

Here are some new things I've learned with this puppy:

Despite all the toys we bought him at Petco, his favorite "toy" is his upside down stainless steel supper dish that he likes to move around like a hockey puck all over the kitchen floor.

I learned new uses for Vicks Vapor Rub:  it keeps him from chewing on the underside of the kitchen cabinets.  Just dab a little on your cupboards every other day or so.

Speaking of chewing, I learned that a washrag which has been wetted and left in the freezer provides the poor dear some relief while he's teething.

Trying to ward off his bites?  Zap him with a squirt gun when he misbehaves.  It definitely gets his attention.  Never underestimate the importance of "time outs".  Put him in his X-pen and walk away. This is what really hurts his feelings and hopefully gets him to behave next time.

Worried about hawks swooping down and grabbing your little puppy while he's going number one or two?  Here's the answer we found helpful: use garden lathwork over his X-pen to form a protective shield.

It all goes to show that you can teach an old human a new trick.

Bite, bite, bite, bite.

If I read one more blog posts that says it's good that puppies bite I'm going to scream. Once I'm done screaming from Gumbo biting me. However well-intentioned these folks are, I can't agree that this is a good thing for puppies! OK, well maybe it is for them but not for me!

Now don't get me wrong. I really do love our little guy. It's just those baby teeth that I can do without seeing them puncture my skin. We've been trying all sorts of strategies to keep his biting down.

• Keeping chew toys on hand to stuff in his mouth before he plants a good one on you. Works pretty good as long as you pay attention to his wandering mouth.
• Make sure that our arms and any other bodily limb is not moving too much - nice meaty targets for him. These little guys love to chase things!
• Putting Vicks VapoRub on your hands. This does work but you smell pretty bad. Does work on our kitchen cabinets though.
• Acting like a litter mate and squealing when bit. This doesn't work with Gumbo. It seems like a signal to turn up the intensity and bit harder. 
• Ignoring him when bitten. This does seem to work, albeit, slowly. We stick him back in his X-pen and ignore him for a few minutes while turning our back on him. This seems to really hurt his feelings since his playmates are ignoring him. 
• Filling a Coke can with pennies and shaking it when he bites. Not worked so far. Just gets his motor running more he hears the noise. I'm sure he'd love to sink his choppers into that can!

Before you get the idea that we're going nuts, let me say that we do see some progress. Our breeder told us that if we can hang in there until he's 18 months, we should be in the clear. Great. He just turned 3 months last week. So we we have any skin left we'll be good to go in 15 months. We should be pretty good at all this by then so feel free to contact us for any tips as we'll be experts. Or we'll be in the hospital on an IV. 

Cheers!

How many times can one dog poop?

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post. We've been through quite alot with our little guy over these past many days. Lots of fun and games. One thing that really sticks out is his uncanny ability to generate loads and loads of poop. More poop than I've ever seen!

I had forgotten that you have to feed these little machines three times a day for the first 4-6 months. He happily devours his food and then dutifully sends it out the other end. Of course where and when  he does this hasn't sunk in yet so we're forever watching him for the telltale signs of imminent evacuation.

At first, I tried to time his 'movements'. I thought if I gave him about 6 hours he would be ready to let loose and I could have him outside and ready to receive heaps of praise from his loyal owner. I soon found that despite my calculations and many late night / early morning wake ups, his gastro-intestinal system did what it wanted. It was not going to be held hostage by my time schedule. Poop, poop, poop.

Well, for the past few days, we've seen a little flicker of hope and timing. He's been going like clockwork after eating, mostly, so we're thinking maybe he's getting his rhythm down. He still goes in the middle of the night; we've given up on trying to rise at 3:00 AM in hopes of nailing his movement. After several sleepy barefoot steps into his X-pen and landing in one of his surprises, we thought we'd wait for morning when we might be able to better handle the situation. Stepping in it is not a fun thing at 3:00 in the morning.

So we soldier on. Maybe we can get him trained to use the toilet. Now that would be perfect. Maybe even keep the seat down too.