exercise and toilet training our JRT

Question
We just rescued a Jack Russell which our vet thinks is a pedigree, and about 6 months old.  We have never had a dog before and want desperately to "do it right"!  We are giving him dry food recommended by the shelter we rescued him from, he has a nice wooden kennel complete with a mattress and an old patchwork quilt.  We have bought some toys for him including balls and chew toys, which he loves! My 13yo son adores him and plays with him a lot, throwing the ball for him to fetch.  I usually take him for a 30+minute walk each day, and my son takes him also for either a 20-30 minute walk or a shorter "run".  Given that he is only 6 months old, is that too much or the right amount of exercise?  He does seem to sleep well!  He gets lots of attention being inside with us nearly all day, and just going in his kennel on our patio to sleep at night.  He also seems to use our living room as his toilet.  What is the best way to train him to go outside?  Should we have a "doggy-door" installed so he can let himself out when he needs to?

Answer
Hi Lesley,
Congratulations on your new pup, he sounds awesome and adorable but there is no way to tell if the dog is really a pedigree unless he has papers. He must look very handsome for your vet to say that. :)
Dry food is best, it won't ruin his teeth, the wooden crate and mattress sound lovely, but don't be surprised to find them chewed to pieces one day! :) I would be a little nervous with the wood.....
There really isn't such a thing as too much exercise for a Jack Russell. 30 minutes a day, 2 times a day for now is good. It sounds like it's working out just fine, but you will need to increase the time as he gets older. They absolutely have to expend energy or they will find other ways to release it (like chewing his nice new wooden crate)!  
Hopefully your pup was neutered at the shelter but if not, having that done first is recommended. To retrain your pup to pee/poop outside you'll have to start off like he's an 8 week old puppy learning. It takes lots of patience but it does work. Ready??  Take him outside every hour. I even do this around the clock with my puppies but I do realize that's a lot to ask some people to realistically do.....  When he DOES go, praise him like it's the greatest thing on earth that he has ever done! Go overboard with the praise and you could even give him a tiny treat like a bite of cheese or something. This is called positive reinforcement or positive imprinting. With my 8 week old puppies, they learn to be housetrained in 3 sometimes 2 weeks. You are sending a message that when he does his business outside, you are very very happy and he gets rewarded. Basically you don't want to give him the chance to be able to go anywhere else. You are imprinting in his little brain over and over that THIS is where I do this.
Accidents will still happen, but don't get overly angry because unless you catch him right in the act, he won't know what you're upset at.
While he is in the house, you should try to watch him very closely and if he starts to lift his leg or squat, quickly take him outside and over-praise him when he does go.
I know it sounds silly but I promise it really works. Dogs learn so much better and faster with positive reinforcement.  Try if you can to get a commercial product to get the urine smell out of anything he pee'd on. We can't smell it but remember dog's noses and sense of smell are 1000X greater than ours! Urine Gone or another of those specialty products work good.
I love doggie doors, especially if you have a fenced in yard. They can come and go as they please, but don't stop taking him out with yourself and praise the great job he's doing!  Fun fun!! You're a great person to have rescued this little guy. Best of luck with him, he's a lucky boy.
Take care, write anytime.
Carol