Jack Russel Peeing

Question
Hi. We got a six yr old, nuetered, male JR about 6wks ago from a loving family who couldn't keep him anymore. He "marked" for the first 10 days consistantly and then seemed to stop when his nervousness subsided and he settled in. He has no bladder issues as we have had him to a vet and he barks at the back door when he needs to go out. Our problem is he has jumped up on our kitchen table and peed on some crackers right after he came in from outside and did it right in front of me. He has also peed on our bed and our daughters bed. He knows it is wrong because when I show him and tell him "bad" he will almost bite me or claw at me to get away and then goes and hides before I can put him outside. He is exercised and played with often. He rarely gets left alone.(But these incidents do not happen anytime around being left alone). When we asked the previous owners about this behaviour, they told us he only "peed" when they didn't take him for a walk. I am not sure what to do or how to handle it. Any advice?

Answer
First and most importantly, your dog does NOT "know" why you are scolding him.  Furthermore, by correcting him you are eliciting an aggressive fear response.  Fear provokes fight/flight/freeze, and in the JRT the prominent response is fight (as you see, then he flees.)  You must immediately stop any correction.  He has no idea why you are angry but he does know you ARE angry and that is frightening him and seriously harming his trust in you.

Marking behavior must be stopped in its literal tracks from the onset, meaning that any adult male dog which is intact (meaning not only literally intact but neutered beyond 18 months of age) can, and often does, begin marking the home.  If the dog is closely observed and interrupted with a growly "nu uh", this behavior usually extinguishes almost immediately.  Your JRT has most likely been marking his territory for quite a while.  Dogs are "given away" for a reason; few people are honest about why they are 'getting rid of' their dog (in other words, they LIE.)  I believe you are seeing the reason this dog was put up for "adoption."

I suggest you do three things: one, put the dog on long lightweight nylon or cotton training leash (I call this a house tab) so that he cannot get out of your immediate presence to mark beds, climb up on counter tops or tables, etc.  Keep this house tab on him for the next several weeks during which time you will do NOTHING to further decay his trust in you.  Dogs respond to positive reinforcement and will ALWAYS CHOOSE the most rewarding behavior.  In the process, if you ignore the behavior you do not want, it will extinguish.  Second, go to Karen Pryor's web site and learn about clicker training and positive reinforcement.  I had a JRT for years and I can tell you that this breed is brilliant in "obedience" work and especially so with positive reinforcement.  You will be able to teach your JRT many behaviors (one at a time)including some entertaining tricks, and he can become the best dog you've ever had.  Third, establish some psychological rank over this dog immediately by making him earn everything.  If he wants to go out, come in, get fed, get petted, get played with, make him work for it with a simple "sit" (but don't use that word, the former owners have probably ruined the response).  Choose this behavior FIRST when using positive reinforcement training.  Within six weeks of earning everything, and beginning to use his problem solving abilities (which are HIGH in the JRT) with positive reinforcement training, coupled with the house tab, the marking problem and any other trophying behaviors should have totally disappeared and your diamond in the rough will have begun to SHINE.