Patterdale Terriers

[Squaddielife]

What are the pros / cons to either having a male or female puppy?

Is one better at recall / training than the other?

I think with any terrier recall can be tricky and is very much down to the dog. We have 3 terriers, 2 are great with recall (1 male & 1 female), the other male is terrible. They are hunters by nature and if he gets a whiff of something he's off, no amount of training, treats will bring him back until he's good and ready. He can be out of sight for 20 mins + sometimes and I constantly worry about him getting stuck down a hole, lost or worse. I keep him on the lead now unless I'm absolutely sure that if he did run off, he'd not come to harm.

If you've never had terriers before then I'd suggest you get them into puppy school straight away. We did this with our border and she's great with other dogs, training and recall. But even with that, she will try and crawl down fox holes given half a chance. A Patterdale will be the same, it's what they've been bred for.

What I’ve found is the answer to recall with ours is be selective about where he’s allowed offlead . Walkable from our house I have a Heath ( part wild / part mown ) and a nature reserve ( wooded) he’s allowed off on the Heath but I keep him on an extender lead in the nature reserve . On the Heath I can see exactly where he is and what else ( wildlife ) is about , in the woods he would be down a hole like a shot . He also goes off lead on beaches , various country parks etc , I would not let him off in open countryside near livestock etc . We have a boy because that is the puppy Battersea had on the day we went ( which is also why we have a patterdale x )