We have a cross Jrt and chihuahua.. Tips please

[Mammicar]

I grew up round dogs. When I left home my ddog came with me but sadly had to pts when she was 15 yrs old and never got another dog until three weeks ago.

Jack is now 5 months old. I took him in from someone who couldn't look after him anymore.

What should I be feeding him? He's already had his nails trimmed due to scratching ds3's face quite badly through playing. He's an active cute little thing. So far the only thing I can get him to eat is puppy pedigree in jelly which I am mixing with dry food in an attempt to switch him over. Plus anything the boys drops

The last week he is humping everything in sight! Has a mad hour around 9pm.

He has his own crate and plenty of toys.

He has two long walks a day with the evening one being let off the lead for a while. He's got a good recall and is pretty well behaved.

I have him booked in to be nuetured at the end of May.

Toilet training is going alright. We put pads by the door when he's home alone but when we are home back door is always open. However he does still do the odd pee in the house!

He's insured and registered at the vet.

Lastly he's very nippy with us all! We say no firmly and put him away from us. does this eventually sink in and he will stop?

Just because I like showing him off :)

No tips but how cute are those huge ears????

I know! Apparently as he gets older they will fold over but I want them to stay like that forever!

Those are both very feisty breeds and at 5 months you need to crack on with the training, especially because you have DC. Have you signed up for any classes?

Most importantly I'd say you need a really solid "leave it" so you don't have to worry about him mugging the DC or resource guarding when they are around.

JRs and chis can be nippy so work on play with toys that stops as soon as he gets silly or nippy.

Kilo pup on YouTube is often recommended for training tips & techniques.

My mini schnauzer was a total land shark when she was little and has really good bite inhibition now, so thee is hope!

No classes will need to look into that. We do say a firm "leave it" or "get down" when he tried to jump up when we are eating. We also only give him meaty leftover once we have finished and in his bowl. Not often but I don't want him pinching food.
He has loads of toys to chew so when he starts nipping we say no and they chuck a toy for him to chase.

He is learning slowly. It's the peeing in the house that I'm finding hard stop. Shall I do away with pads? Though I did try and he just peed on the floor where the pad was lol

Small dogs are often harder to house train, I'd go back to basics, take him out after food, after naps, after play, stay with him and reward him every time he wees or poos in the garden.

Start doing swaps to encourage a reliable leave it, if he has a toy offer a treat in exchange, if he has a ball offer a squeaky, always give something of higher value so he has a positive association with giving you stuff.

And that should be kiko pup not kilo!

I have a chihuahua cross Jrt (Jackhuahua) he is now nearly two.
He to was a little bitey when a pup I would say ow loudly followed by no and then ignore him for a few minutes he soon learnt not to do it he was fine by about 6/7 months.
With the toileting I too used puppy pads and then when he was going outside more than inside on pad moved the pad outside the back door but left door open then removed altogether but I've found little dogs take longer to toilet train and can't really hold their bladder tidy till after 6 months that's what my vet said anyway, so just persevere and he'll get there eventually. When you put him out to toilet try using a command word I tell mine peepee and wait with him till he does it then praise him and if he goes inside just tell him no and put him straight out.
With regards to feeding mine is really picky with dog food he will only ceaser mini filets or James wellbeloved wet and little bit of Hills science plan small breed dried mixed in with it but loves anything we are eating.
They are great little dogs to have mine is the best of both breeds he not as hyper as a Jrt but not as delicate as a chi and he is great with children but he is what I call my velcro dog he follows me everywhere.
They have such great big personalities mine thinks he's bigger than he actually is sometimes.
Here's pics of my boy Loki
Have fun and take lots of pictures they grow up so fast.

Loki's ears never folded over they stayed up like a chihuahuas unless he's tired then they flop over.

I have a staffy/JRT cross (nearly 8 mths) and some days, she has one JRT ear and one staffy ear! (JRT ear slightly more floppy). Some days her ears just are both staffy ears. It's weird. But then I was in town with her and a man got talking to me - he had his dog with him a JRT/something else I forget, cross and it was the same - one JRT ear, one other breed ear!

I have seen on JRT forums people saying they can be hard to housetrain. My last staffy was pretty well housetrained at 8 weeks. This little girl? 7 months before she was even close and even now she has the odd accident (maybe one a week - it used to be 7 a day!) The pads are a bad idea, I think. They can prompt a wee.

What worked in the end for us was (a) the weather turning better and (b) consistency in the treating for weeing in the garden which meant someone always went out with her, however inconvenient/boring and stayed til she weed - then a high value treat - in her case chicken - which she only got for outside weeing or pooing. My problem was, I was doing quite well in the day when home alone with her but was exhausted by evening and wanted someone else to help - husband and kids not pulling their weight. Everyone has to be consistent and on-message.

Maybe having the back door open when you are home all the time is actually more difficult for him to understand right now - may be better to save the garden for very specific trips with associated treats to reinforce. Right now if he does the right thing and no one notices he doesn't get the positive reinforcement. Best toys for my JRTs are the rag ropes that they can chew, chase and 'shake to kill' (a natural JRT action from hunting), and the deer antlers to chew. Will keep them amused for hours.

Mine does the shake to kill thing two.

Oh yes the shake to kill makes me laugh cos he's so little. Kids have given him an overdose monkey he tries to shake it but falls over ha

He's done pretty well yesterday and today with the no and the nipping stops straight away. He also seems a lot calmer with the two youngest boys too who have ADHD so can be moving a lot very fast and I think that was frightening him!

Is Loki fully grown now? How big is he would you say?

Yes he's fully grown now and he's 4.9kgs in weight, smaller than a jack russell about chihuahua height but his body is a little stockier.