Jack Russell Dog: Sweet-Natured But Nasty Habit Of Nipping

[rmg]

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We have a 3 year old Jack Russell boy, one of a litter of 5, and still living with his mother. We have worked hard to make him number 2 dog, and he generally defers to her, even though he is now twice her size. He is good with people, dogs, livestock etc, but has recently developed a bad habit of nipping people (adult men, always) whilst one of us is chatting to them on walks. It doesn't seem to be territorial, as the last three have been away from home. Neither does it seem to be protection of his mother, as she is nearly always off in some local bit of greenery hunting when these things happen. He normally likes to please, and seems genuinely remorseful once he has done one of these. Any advice of what we should do, or what kind of course we should attend? Many thanks. Roger

 

[banana]

Hello and welcome to Dog Forum!

You need to refer to a dog behaviourist to help you I think?

 

[Strix]

There is bound to be some trigger for this that you're just not spotting. Some things which you may have overlooked are his mumm coming into season, one of the humans in his pack 'coming into season', or that this person who is talking to you is disrupting what usually happens when the dogs go for a walk

Have a good hard think, so you're armed with as much info as possible to tell your chosen behaviourist

Ps - if anybody mentions alpha rolling, show them the door

 

[Andrea s]

I always find trying to apply status to a dog ie: number 1 number 2 hard, as most animals will find their natural balance as a pack if this means the son becoming number 1 then so be it, some dogs dont do well under pressure to be leader and most dogs will happily just follow as being leader is a hole lot of hard work.

Could he be protective of you ? his leader ? JRT are so focused and tenacious that you not focusing on the hunt ( walk ) he is maybe trying to instigate some order !!!

 

[TTT]

I would keep him on a lead in public and be very aware and ready to take action should he display this sort of behavior.......it is YOUR LEGAL responsibility.

 

[Mahooli]

It could be excitement or a displacement behaviour and as has been said you need to try to find the trigger so it can be resolved. Good Luck!

Becky

 

[eingana]

When you say 'nipping' what exactly does he do?

Is it hands, legs, faces, men with walking sticks, men wearing hats, men talking to his favourite human?

What precedes him doing this? As Strix says, this is very unlikely to be just running up and nipping without a warning, there will be some sign of distress or a body language warning in there somewhere if you can work out what it is.

It is not the nipping that will give you the best information, it is the 3 minutes BEFORE the nipping that will hold the key.

Until you have this resolved I'd have him on a lead and not getting close enough to actually do any damage, because all it would take for him to be carted off as a 'dangerously out of control dog' is for someone to report him doing this to the police when he's blotted his copybook while on public ground.

 

[rmg]

When you say 'nipping' what exactly does he do?

Is it hands, legs, faces, men with walking sticks, men wearing hats, men talking to his favourite human?

What precedes him doing this? As Strix says, this is very unlikely to be just running up and nipping without a warning, there will be some sign of distress or a body language warning in there somewhere if you can work out what it is.

It is not the nipping that will give you the best information, it is the 3 minutes BEFORE the nipping that will hold the key.

Until you have this resolved I'd have him on a lead and not getting close enough to actually do any damage, because all it would take for him to be carted off as a 'dangerously out of control dog' is for someone to report him doing this to the police when he's blotted his copybook while on public ground.

Thank you all for your advice, which is very helpful. I think the best policy from here is to get advice from a dog behaviourist asap. Does anyone know of a good one in the West Sussex/East Hampshire area, who they would be happy to recommend? Roger