You’ve brought your Jack Russell puppy home, congratulations!
Glad to hear they’re doing well – puppy eyes shining bright, and nubby tail that doesn’t seem to stop wagging.
They may have gained a special liking for your living room carpet – as the perfect place to go for a wee. Oh, and your favourite shoes…sorry to hear they’ve probably been chewed on and savaged already. Apologies to your neighbour too; we heard their favourite pair of trousers were left muddy after your Jack Russell puppy showed such enthusiasm to say hello.
We’d love nothing more than to see you both becoming a wonderful team; one that has overcome the hiccups of starting afresh, and only see bright days of licks, treats, and cuddles ahead.
In this training guide, you’ll learn everything to tackle those first 8 weeks with your Jack Russell puppy and be as well prepared as possible for the journey ahead, whichever Zigzags it may take you on. (pun intended) Every question you’ve asked yourself is pretty much covered in this guide. What you do need to know is that everything will be just fine – only happy days lie ahead of you.
If you’re hungry for more puppy power, why not check out our ultimate puppy training guide here?
What age can I start to train my Jack Russell puppy?
As soon as you get them home. Puppies’ brains are a lot bigger than we think; they soak up so much good information despite their young age – they’ll be thrilled to get going!
We won’t get ahead of ourselves too much though, don’t want to hover parents. But just keep your imagination alive by thinking of all of those little dog tricks you’ll want to teach your Jack eventually. Like doing a backflip.
What do I need to train my Jack Russell Puppy?
It might look like a long list. It’s not really – just the basics to get you set up.
We recommend investing in the following equipment to train your puppy
A treat pouch
A soft collar
A harness: One that doesn’t pull or tighten when it’s on your puppy and they walk.
A 2 meter training lead
A piece of non-slip vet bed or a soft mat
Treats: The more smelly, the better. We’ve written more about treats here.
Two identical toys: Great for swaps
A soft grooming brush
A crate and playpen: Optional, but pretty handy if you ask us.
You’ll also need to practice a couple of other things on your behalf such as:
Patience: Put into perspective, puppies are only toddlers in human years. It might take them a while to get the gist of everything you’re teaching them.
Persistence: The puppy training journey becomes a lot less of a labyrinth (and more of a yellow brick road) when you are consistent with your training practices.
Time to practice: In line with being persistent – allowing time to practice their training everyday is key for a bright, trained puppy.
Good to know about training Jack Russell puppies
Now we know a dog is a dog is a dog. But breed differences actually do matter for how we train them…did you know that? Now you do. Let’s look at where Jacks first originated, for a better look into how those terrier brains work.
What are Jack Russell’s bred for?
Jack Russell’s belong to the terrier group of dogs. We think of them as ratters, and their job was to be an effective controllers for vermin on farms, and they are excellent hunters. Their original job was actually to hunt foxes., they were needed for their speed and courage.
Fun fact: The Australians have helped develop and improve Jack Russell’s temperament, so their behaviour around other dogs tend to be friendlier. G’job mate. In 2016, they finally got recognition from the UK Kennel Club, and the show type retains that true working terrier spirit we all love.
You can read more about the fascinating history of the Jack Russell Terrier here.
Are Jack Russells hard to train?
Jack Russell’s are known to be highly intelligent dogs and are therefore quick learners. However, Jack Russell’s are better suited to confident dog owners as their high-energy levels make them suitable for extra-curricular activities. This means they will need time and patience given to them during the training process.
When do Jack Russell’s calm down?
Although the Jack Russell terrier is notorious for being hyper, as they grow older, they do calm down, slightly. Once a Jack Russell is around 9 years of age, they will slowly start to become less active and energetic, however, don’t let this fool you! They will still be hyperactive.
Are Jack Russell’s hard to potty train?
No, Jack Russells are not difficult to toilet train. It does take some dedication and consistency as with any puppy. However, Jack Russells tends to excel in this area of puppy training, much faster than other breeds. Many Jack Russell puppies can be potty trained within one week of training.
Can Jack Russells be left alone?
A Jack Russell puppy can be left alone for 1-2 hours during the puppy stage. Once your Jack Russell is of adult age, they can be left for up to 6 hours, as a maximum. This is the same for elderly dogs, be mindful of their bladder control at each stage
Jack Russell Terrier Breed-Specific Behaviours
I know, it’s a mouthful, but it’s important to think about! Jack Russells have some classic behaviours associated with the job they were bred to do.
If we look at the predatory motor pattern of a rat-catching Jack Russell Terrier, it looks like this
ORIENT→GRAB BITE→ SHAKE BITE→ KILL-BITE (and often DISSECT)
Yes, we know it sounds kind of deadly and morbid. But it’s good for you to know this so you don’t get too surprised at their classic behaviours:
- Grabbing
- Chewing and tugging
- Dissecting – Typically trashing the place and pulling stuffing out of toys that are a nightmare to clean up later.
- Barking – They sure like to have long, loud conversations.
- Digging
So, the question now is, what can you do to give them an outlet for these things?
Enrichment activities can help enormously to help them get rid of the itch to do many of these things. Fun games are generally the best and easiest way to get to it: like these ones here:
Hol-ee Ball Dissection
Should I really encourage dissection, you might ask? Well, we’re not going to sugarcoat it but Jack Russell Terriers simply love to shake their toys to death and then pull their insides out.
To keep them wanting to do this with toys and not actual rats (now that would be terrible to clean up), this game can provide them with a safe outlet to this very normal doggy behaviour.
How to play:
- Grab yourself a Hol-ee roller ball – they come in different sizes so pick the one suitable for your dog’s bite.
- Cut some old blankets or fleece jumpers into strips.
- Roll some treats inside the strip, and feed them through the holes in the ball. Hand it over to your puppy, and watch them go bonkers.
Make the game even more fun: Stick some extra treats inside. Dehydrated meat strips are absolutely delicious for them!
Problems you might run into: If you have a dog who is likely to rip the fleece to shreds or consume it rather than go for the treats, simply use strips of food or large treats instead . Some just like the taste of fabric better, I guess.
Build a digging pit
Jacks love to dig. They love getting their paws in the mud and scratching the earth away. By giving them a special place to do so, you can save your flower beds!
How to play:
- You’ll need a child’s sandpit or you can make your own digging pit as shown here
- Bury some toys or treats just under the first layer of soil, and help your dog to discover them the first time.
- By the second time around, they’ll probably get it perfectly and won’t need much help. They’ll absolutely love this game!
Make the game even more fun Hide the treats and toys when your dog isn’t there and then run over to the digging pit and let them dig them up
Problems you might run into Your dog might get quite dirty – but that’s nothing doggy shampoo can’t fix. If you’re worried about the mess or don’t have access to a garden, try our foraging pit or swap out the soil for balls to make a ball pit out of it! Have fun trying to pull your kids from them too.
If your dog likes this, you might also like: To take them to a beach! It’s the ultimate digging pit to play this game, really.
Indoor digging pit and foraging box
If you can’t build a digging pit outside, or you want to have even more fun then build an indoor one too. Building a foraging box will bring them back to the old days; back to the historical way of eating by foraging for food. It makes meal times last longer, will make them less bloated, and is a great way of getting them to problem solve.
How to play:
- You will need a large box, some of your dog’s kibble and some scrunched up newspaper or packing materials.
- Scrunch the paper into balls and pop it into the box
- Sprinkle your dog’s kibble in, and then let them dive in – they likely won’t need much help with this…their instincts will kick in for sure.
Make the game even more fun: Size matters – make the box bigger! And add high value treats; they won’t be able to look away.
Problems you might run into: Don’t let your dog eat the packaging, so keep an eye on that
If you like these breed specific games for your Jack Russell puppy download our app, you’ll find tonnes more!
What does this have to do with how I train my Jack Russell?
It’s a fair question actually. As we mentioned before a dog is a dog is a dog right? But knowing the context and breed characteristics might help you train your Jack Russell Terrier puppy better and understand why they do certain things the way they do.
Here are a couple things to keep in mind:
Jack Russells are workaholics and are extremely trainable – lucky you.
They are loyal companions who thrive on human company, so make sure you do lots of alone time exercises when they’re young to help prevent Separation Related Problems (it’s all in the Zigzag app).
You’ll find out they have strong (but cheeky) personalities.
They have high (…perhaps even more than high) energy levels and require an active home life – they’re definitely not the kinds of dogs who’d enjoy becoming a couch potato.
Lack of stimulation WILL encourage self-employment – give them things to rip up and dissect to prevent them getting into trouble.
Give that digging behaviour an outlet – either a digging pit in your garden or one you make indoors to save your flower beds!
This is a good one for you to prepare for: They probably won’t lose that hunting instinct completely. Actually, it simply just won’t happen. Because of this, it’s much better to give them an appropriate outlet such as games like tug or fetch so they won’t feel like chasing anything that moves.
Don’t be surprised if they ‘sing along’ with their squeaky toys.
They generally prefer to live in the countryside where there’s room to run. They will also adapt perfectly well to city life, as long as you remember every day is a school day for them to learn new things, and provide plenty of mental stimulation.
They will love impulse and self-control games that you can teach them. They have a strong sense of smell, so they’ll always be thrilled to play a game of searching for that beloved tennis ball.
Given their love for sports and adrenaline filled bodies, they will be quite happy going out in all weathers and getting filthy in the mud. So yes, this also means you’ll be getting wet, caught in thunderstorms or gale force winds.
Here’s a couple other things to think about:
Rewards: Most dogs work perfectly well with food rewards. But you can certainly make it work better when you know what makes your dog tick. Do you need high value treats, or can you get away with something lower for those eager beaver food-motivated Jack Russell puppies? Perhaps your puppy prefers toy rewards?
Asking yourself these questions will help positive reinforcement training work much better. Almost like a magic spell.
Socialisation: Having a working ‘terrier-ist’ in your home means you’ll want to do more work around staying calm and focussed on you around wildlife and give them an appropriate outlet for all that chasing. This time, we’re sure you don’t want a glaring postman. Don’t want all your parcels to “mysteriously” stop arriving.
All puppies have a socialisation window – the period where they’re the most eager to learn about the world and make connections which affect how they view things, often for the rest of their lives. It’s also the time you’ll find easiest to train them – they haven’t learned how to get into bad habits yet.
Here are easy ways to socialise your Jack Rusell puppy:
Find out what the breeder did with them
Find out what your breeder is doing to socialise your puppy before they leave them – good examples puppy socialisation programmes to send them are Puppy Culture and Avidog.
Read our full article on socialisation here. Don’t want to brag, but it really is a golden guide.
Don’t be afraid to take your puppy out before they are vaccinated, but do it safely! Use a bag or a puppy stroller for your Jack Rusell puppy – they look super cute too. Definitely insta-worthy.
At Zigzag, we’re of the opinion that the benefits of early socialisation outweigh the risks of disease when exposing unvaccinated puppies to the outdoors. We’re not alone in this though, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior agrees!
Grooming
Jack Russells come in three coat types they are:
- Smooth
- Broken
- Rough (longer hair that’s coarse)
They all tend to shed a lot (sorry) but are reasonably low maintenance, so don’t require much bathing. They all love a pamper though, so get them used to being brushed and bathed when they’re puppies. That way they’re well prepared for when the dreaded day comes and they roll in something unmentionable.
PRO TIP: If your puppy switches off or starts acting silly (often a sign of stress) it means it’s time for a break of whatever you’re doing. Shift to some play, let them have a nap and go back to what you were doing later – we want training and other activities to be associated with fun, and not something they begin to dread.
Overview of the training programme and topics we’ll cover
Just to make sure we’re on the same page, you were looking for the ultimate guide on training a Jack Russell Terrier puppy, right?
Good, then you won’t be surprised by the long list of topics we’ll be touching on:
- Sitting
- Lying down
- Learning their name
- Coming when you call them
- Walking nicely on a lead
- Playing fetch
- Sleeping in their crate
- Coping with being left alone
- Going to the toilet in the right place
Yep, you’ll most likely be using it all. But nothing to worry about – we’ve made it nice and simple to follow!
Here’s a good resource for you to have – the Push Drop Stick game. I like to use this game to see whether puppies are ready to move on in their training, or if they need to spend more practice runs.
Just a reminder – remember how Jack Russells are workaholics and super clever? Make sure to keep them stimulated by progressively making their exercises more challenging. They really do need to be given a job to do rather than allowing them to wonder on their own…who knows how that might end up.
What is Push, Drop, Stick?
Push, Drop, Stick, is a way of systematically raising the difficulty of an exercise or behaviour.
If exercises are always kept too easy, then dogs will keep doing them correctly because they are being rewarded (cheeky). However, progress will be slower as they’ll get ‘stuck’ at this level.
If lessons are too hard, then it’s likely that they’ll give up since treats won’t be coming as easy. Looks like they’d be quite good businessmen as humans.
‘Push Drop Stick’ can help avoid both scenarios by maintaining enough momentum: It will keep your puppy winning enough times to keep them interested and not quit, but not so much that they aren’t thinking about how to be rewarded by trying harder.
How does it work?
By doing 5 repetitions of an exercise, we are going to keep track of how many the dog gets right. Based on how they perform, we’re going to choose whether to do which of the following:
Push – Go to the next level of difficulty (raise criteria)
Drop – Back to the previous level of difficulty (drop criteria)
Stick – Stay at the current level of difficulty (stay with current criteria)
Why should I train like this?
By training in repetitions of 5, we are less likely to get stuck at a certain point.
It also means that we’ll be able to keep track of where we’re at so that we can build stronger and stronger behaviours. Off to better things!
What is difficulty or criteria?
Difficulty or Criteria relates to the ‘three D’s’ Duration, Distraction and Distance. These refer to how long can the dog perform the behaviour for, what is the distraction like, and how far from us can perform the behaviour.
What will be the end result once I’ve trained my puppy?
Cheeky, wanting to know the end before you even start.
Well, if you’re really eager to know, this programme will help you in your first steps to having a brilliant dog.
Week 1 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
In the first week, we’ll dive straight into socialisation exercises, training and husbandry tasks.
Congratulations! It’s your first week of training your new puppy. How does it feel to be a new puppy parent? You must be chuffed.
Take a look at these first few articles. These will be key for establishing a solid, comfortable base; they’re all about toilet training, crate training and alone time training. All the ingredients you need for a happy home.
Eventually, wherever you want them to. But for now, beside your bed is the best place for your puppy to sleep – it will help them feel safe.
If you were a teeny baby, you’d probably want to sleep next to someone too. Having them sleep beside you will also be of great help with toilet training – you’ll be able to rush them to the toilet as soon as you hear them squeak.
There’s something else you should know. You probably won’t be sleeping incredibly well for the next few weeks – puppies take a while to have full control of their bladder, so you can prepare to sleep with one eye open for now. Don’t worry! You’ll be back to sleeping with both eyes closed soon enough.
Week 2 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
Week 3 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
Week 4 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
Week 5 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
Week 6 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
Week 7 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
Week 8 – Training your Jack Russell Terrier puppy
So, what’s next for your Jack Russell Terrier puppy?
Well, besides being a well-behaved and polite puppy, you might consider involving yourself in a Dog Sports or Training Club. Or perhaps teaching your Jack Russell puppy all the good stuff like agility, flyball, hoopers or trick training to impress fellow park-goers. To be fair, anything taught with positive reinforcement will be the way to go to keep your Jack Russell’s brain ticking over nicely.
While your Jack Russell is young, it’s also worth working through other life skills and obedience training – like the ones we offer in the Zigzag app. Not only will it keep their brain nice and fresh, but it will also make you look extra snazzy when you’re out and about. Almost as though you speak fluent Dog language.
You’ll find a lot more in-depth training, games and socialisation advice tailored for your puppy and their breed. If you run into some training hiccups around obedience, you’ll also have access to a team of experts to help you every step of the way. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask them any questions you might have; they’d love to hear from you! They also have great personalities.