My mum offered to re-home my dog...

[cornishgirl17]

So.. please do not judge me on this. We bought a Jack russell pop in May. She was 8 weeks old and now she is four months. We really should of looked into the breed. I was brought up around jack Russell's and they were fab so assumed Poppy would be the same. She is lovely, affectionate and seems ok with my kids but extremely HYPER. My 7yo son is too boisterous with her. He wouldn't intentionally hurt her but I am worried he will accidentally hurt her.. I thought at 7, he would be more understanding but he hasn't and it's tiring. I cannot even let my child play in the garden with the dog as he's too 'rough'.

My mum has offered to re-home Poppy. She already has a dog and 7 cats!! Poppy is not used to cats and I'm worried she may hurt them. She doesn't seem to mind dogs but I'm worried that my mums dog may get jealous or aggressive (not an aggressive dog but he's been 'spoilt' for years. My mum doesn't work (carer for my grandparents) but she sometimes goes shopping or out for the day. I've only ever left poppy for about three hours maximum. I don't want her to be left alone?

Good or bad idea?

Please don't judge.

[Coloursthatweremyjoy]

It's still very early days. Four months old is a very young puppy. I'd only started training seriously around this time, she can still be the dog you wanted, start research now and start training classes. I took my son, only a bit older than yours along with us so he could see how it was done. He and the dog are best mates now. He has Autism as well so empathy for the puppy wasn't high. It was a lot of effort and I had to watch them constantly but it got easier as pup called down and boy got bigger and understood more.

The puppy stage is hard hard work but if you put the hours in now, it will all be worth it later.

Dogs should only be left for 5 hours at a time max according to my trainer. Unless of course you cycle home from work in the pouring rain only to have dog look at you in manner of "what the he'll are you doing here" then refuse to go out going back to sleep again with a humph sound. I'm not bitter.

[GreenTulips]

My 7 year old was a bit rough with the dog to start with - but he soon learnt ...

It's your choice really

[gingerbreadmam]

I can understand how you feel but agree with the previous poster it's very early days still. With our dog (now 2) i found he would settle a little bit more about every 3 months. Basically they do improve as they get older.

Where your son is concerned i know it's difficult but if he is being too rough with the dog you need to keep reminding him. he is old enough to understand.

[CornflakeHomunculus]

Puppies are extremely hard work and it's very common to go through "Oh god, what have I done?!" stage when they're still small!! It's even got a name; the puppy blues.

Are you taking your pup to training classes? If not I'd highly recommend you do and you could also take your son so he gets to interact with your puppy in a more controlled and positive way.

Are you confident you can cope with an adult JRT once the puppy and teenage stages are done with?

If you do decide to rehome her then your first port of call should really be the breeder, presuming they were decent. If that's not an option then I'd go through a reputable (and preferably breed/type specific) rescue.

I don't think rehoming a JRT pup into a house full of cats is a good idea at all. A puppy not exposed to cats whilst the socialisation window was open and who will potentially have a very high prey drive indeed being expected to live harmoniously with cats could very well be a recipe for disaster. At best your mum will need to do some level of management for as long as she has both (this could be as little as making sure the cats always have escape routes and safe areas the dog can't access or as much as keeping them completely separate at all times) and at worst the dog could end up killing a cat. This is a good article about keeping dogs, especially those apt to be prey driven, with cats.

[SparklingRaspberry]

Teach your child to be gentle with her. It really isn't that difficult.

Puppies are hard work. It's only 4 months old! You got it at 8 weeks which means you've only had her two months. You're already leaving her for 3 hours at a time??? You haven't started training??? Is she getting enough exercise???

Sorry, you sound really irresponsible.

[Floralnomad]

Sounds like your issue is your son not the dog , you must keep telling him and keep them apart if he doesn't get it , at 7 he's plenty old enough to understand .

[BagelGoesWalking]

Also, what dog food does she have? A good quality food might help - a little.

[TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge]

She's a 4 month old JRT, of course she's full of beans!!!

You need to teach your son and supervise. Why can't they be in the garden together? Just supervise them! He'll soon learn - if you bother teaching him.

Either step up or give poor doggy back to the breeder

[cornishgirl17]

Thank your for your replies.

I can't believe how judgemental some of you are. sparklingraspberry I'm a stay at home mum. I am home with the pup 95 percent of the time. The pup does get left alone occasionally up to three hours at a time, no longer. Mainly when I have to do a food shop. I live in a village so travelling takes time too! It's impossible to be home 24/7. Surely nobody can be at home every minute of the day? Sometimes it's unavoidable. Should I have not gone to my hospital appointment 20 miles away today? Or should I have took her and left her in a hot car??? She is happy in my dog friendly kitchen.

I am far from irresponsible. She is looked after, we are training her and she has plenty of exercise and attention. She also has high quality dog food. I can't believe some of you are mentioning things I never even mentioned in the original post.

Just for the record. My son has not once intentionally tried to hurt her. The dog is hyper around him. It's still new to him and he acts a bit boisterous himself.

[WeAllHaveWings]

A NT 7 year old is perfectly capable of treating a living creature appropriately. If he can't you need to supervise all their interactions and train him until he does. It is tiring but most new born pups are, regardless of breed, sounds like you've went in with your eyes shut and now want to offload without making any effort for this pup. You've only had the pup 2 months!

Did you at least get her from a reputable breeder who will take her back and find an appropriate home?

[gingerbreadmam]

has any advice helped?

my dm has a jrt who is also hyper but has settled lots as she has got older. she is 4 now and well behaved but still goes crazy when her loved ones appear she jumps so high she could knock me out and she is great with kids. i do think they have a lovely temperament or at least the ones ive met do.

[Floralnomad]

I have a 7 yo terrier mix and he would be hyper all the time if someone was winding him up , chasing , playing tuggy etc with him , that's terriers for you .

[pigsDOfly]

I think you're getting a hard time on here OP but it does sound as if you didn't do your homework and had no idea what you were taking on with JRT.

They are terriers so they are going to be hyper and pretty stubborn. She needs to be properly trained and the whole family needs to be consistent with her training.

As pps have said at 7 your DS is old enough to understand that he must not wind the puppy up and make her hyper. He might not intentionally hurt her but at 4 months she's still very small and if they're running around and a bit out of control he could accidentally tread on her, which would be awful for everyone.

Have you got him involved in her training; he can teach her to sit, stay, come and to do simple tricks. You might find he gets real pleasure out of the dog responding to him in a positive way, rather than just running around mindlessly.

Agree with pp that rehoming with you DM doesn't sound like a good idea. Seven cats and a JRT sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

To give up on her so soon, and it is very soon, which is the reason you're getting the harsh responses on here, is a bit odd tbh. Did you do no homework before getting so you understood what you were taking on? Puppies can be hard work, and terrier puppies are probably the hardest.

You need to put in the work if you want to have a well balanced adult dog, otherwise, yes rehome her, preferably back to the breeder while she still young enough to find someone who understands what giving a puppy a forever home means.

[Pollydonia]

She is a baby still and will calm slightly as she matures.
I do think that your putting her welfare first, and it may be that your family is not ready for a dog.
Good luck with whatever you decide