Jack Russell puppy and ds

[ememem84]

Hoping for some advice here.

Fil and his gf have just brought home an 11 week old jack Russell puppy. It is super cute and very small.

Ds is 22 months. We met the puppy on Saturday.

Puppy jumped up at ds a lot, has really sharp claws and is incredibly excitable. Ds didn’t like it.

Dh sat ds in his lap so puppy couldn’t jump at him and I sat puppy on mine. He calmed down and ds patted him. All good.

Except everytime puppy was let down he jumped at ds. No one else.

I’m assuming it’s because ds is smaller but not really sure.

Fil and his gf shouted at ds for chasing the puppy (he ran away from it), the. Laughed when he was scared “no no no no mummy daddy” when the puppy was chasing him and jumping. Luckily dh was able to sweep him up (ds not puppy). I’m 37 weeks pregnant and not as mobile as I was!

Fils gf have puppy treats when it jumped up. Because it was playing and being good 🤔 and has made comments about how ds is obviously scared of dogs and needs to toughen up.

We’ve said that it’s not fair on him. He doesn’t like the dog jumping and asked them to control it, which at 11 weeks old, being in a new home and meeting lots of new people on your second day there is probably easier said than done. But ds was scared. We’ve said the dog is not allowed in our house (we have a cat) which was met with huffs and eye rolling.

Has anyone got any advice on how we can help ds? Apparently puppy isn’t going to be trained not to jump as “that’s what JR’s do” and if ds is scared of dogs it’s our fault.

Ironically we were at a bbq with Fil and gf on Saturday evening and there were a few dogs there. One of which was an adult JR. Ds was fine with it. It didn’t jump. It came to him he didn’t chase it. He had a pat and was very calm. Other dogs there were much bigger - couple of labs a boxer and a springy spaniel. All of which he was fine with.

We also didn’t realise that Saturday was the puppy’s second day in its new home. We knew they were getting him they just hadn’t told anyone when. So when we went round it was there. If we’d known he’s just arrived we’d have held off visiting as I think maybe he should have been allowed to settle in a bit first.

Dh is of the opinion that if they continue to laugh at ds and not help us on this they won’t see ds. I personally think this should be a last resort. But am also inclined to agree with him.

So. Any ideas to help us?

[Floralnomad]

They will have to visit you / your family at your house until they train their dog and tell them they cannot bring it with them - problem solved .

[ememem84]

That’s what I was afraid of.

We’re aware that they will bring dog to our house despite our requests not to. And us making the dog stay outside will be an issue. It was yesterday when they came round. Eyes were rolled. They were huffy and reluctantly let dog run in our garden (which isn’t puppy proofed so he almost got out the back gate by crawling under it...).

I don’t want ds to be scared. But at the same time Im not going to force him to be around something he doesn’t like to desensitise him (as I expect Fil and gf are expecting “he’ll get used to it....” Dhs response to that was that he shouldn’t have to)

[IceRebel]

Apparently puppy isn’t going to be trained not to jump as “that’s what JR’s do”

Jumping up is a bad habit in dogs, and lack of training in this area would make me nervous about what other behaviours are going to be ignored or encouraged.

I think your DH has got the right idea, in saying they won't see your son. I would certainly be limiting time with the puppy, as their reaction to a scared child shows the type of dog owners they're going to be. Dog comes first, and your DS ends up getting hurt then you can bet they won't blame the dog.