jack russles

Question
we  have a one year old jrt male, who is snappy and bossy some off the time . we have just taken in a 5 month old lab collie cross  male . we have had him 4 weeks and our jrt is so nasty to him most off the time , they have had fights and drawn blood, our jrt is also very obsessive towards me and the kids and will not let the other dog near us , will this get any better or is it best to find the lab a  new home for his stake.

Answer
Kelly -

This is not likely to get any better unless you could make a huge effort at retraining the jack, but even then the odds are against you.

Jacks are notorious for fighting, and in fact my own can be a problem with other male dogs if he is off leash and there is food involved.

I strongly recommend taking your jack to obedience classes even if you re-home the lab pup. It's much less about you jack learning to obey than it is to socialize him better and teach you to think "doggie."

I also recommend that you read through this training regimen I have used numerous times in rehabilitating a dog with an attitude problem... Even if you can't implement it, you can see why it works.

http://www.cairnrescue.com/docs/NILIF.pdf

Please let me know if there is anything more I can help with - and I'm sorry I didn't have better news.

-Beth