Help needed with rescue Terrier Behaviour

Hello,
I need help and advise for our Jack Russell.
We rescued him 10 months ago from a home that he was being abused by his owners and attacked by their Staffy.
We are slowly building his confidence but have a few problems we need to sort out.
1) toilet training:he goes outside no problem will hold himself all night but if I go out for 10 minuets he will make a mess even if I make sure he has been out before I go out,this has meant I have to leave him in the bathroom as this is the only floor that is easy to clean,it's not all the time but enough for me to be pulling my hair out.I cant trust him to have the run of the house because I never know if he is going to make a mess (both ways) we can go weeks without him doing anything them BANG I come home and its all over the bathroom no apparent reason.
2)humping the children: again not all the time apart from a certain teddy that seems to be anytime would castrating him stop from humping the children?They think he is just playing.
3) he wee's on any visitors that we have just walks up to them and lifts his leg.

Please help we are getting desperate and running out of ideas
Ps he also hates other dogs with a passion not surprising really after how he was brought up but it would be nice when we go for walks if he wasn't always the first to have a go.

Castration may help with item 3 as would shutting him away before admitting a visitor.

2/ this is something that some dogs do and apart from discouraging the behaviour I am not sure what to suggest as I have always had more than one dog and they do it to one another which causes me no problem. Agree with you a dog that mount people particularly children is a big problem. Again if he is not castrated this may or may not help conversely if he was castrated too young this may be the cause of the problem.

Item 1 is more of a problem, would think that it is a form of separation anxiety and although it only happens on occasion it may be something disturbs the dog whilst you are out.

You do not say how old the dog is nor how long you leave him when the trouble happens. Have you had a health check done, think he is fine but if he is adult the soiling behaviour is suprising.

PS Welcome to the Forum - hope you get a better answer soon

Thanks for the quick reply,we think he must be coming up to 12 months old as when we rescued him the people were very vague about details but from what the vet said we are working on March/April being his birthmonth.
Time leaving him varies as I said I can leave him for 10 mins while go to places I cant take him or up to three hours if I am at work there is no pattern sometimes he will sometimes he doesnt all I can say is he always goes both ways never just one.
As to shutting him away when a visitor is in the house we tried this he nearly broke the door down trying to get out plus we really want him to socialize with people.
Thanks for the welcome.

Hello and welcome

I agree with Pita the first sounds like seperation anxiety it could be that something is spooking him whilst you are out - you could try leaving a radio on or something and try just very short periods - ie: go outside for 5 mins come back in, etc and gradually build it up and see how long it takes for him to mess?

As for the humping, my 7 yrd old staffie still does this and its been a difficult thing to stop - however he only does it when excited - ie: if we are playing with ball etc and you stop and he still wants to keep going he humps.. i have a 15 month old lil boy and he tries it on him but we do just try and stop it everytime and distract the dog. He is castrated but as he is a rescue have no idea when- personally I would go for the castration anyway as its better for the dog( IMO) he is a rescue you wont be breeding from him so you are aswell to castrate and see if it helps.

It may help with the aggression but to be honest probably not. My staffie is also dog aggressive and the castration certainly doesnt seem to have made any difference. It sounds like its just a reaction to what has happened to him.. However him being young you have a good chance of trying to work through it with him. Can you try a socialisation class locally and see if this makes any difference or try to walk with someone you know with a dog( start with a bitch) and see how he fares.

I found with my dog I am tense as know he is going to react to other dogs and he probably reacts to my tensing as much as the dog....

hopefully this helps
dani

At 12 months some of the problem could be down to the teens, dogs like humans go through a stage when they are at odds with the world. Think your problems may be more than this but at 12 month you should be able to stop the peeing on visitors and humping people by discouragements and distraction.

Go back to square one with the training and the house training, start with the sit then the down when this is really secure you will be able to say sit or down to stop him mounting children or approaching a visitor. It would help if you ask the children to be calm around the dog and shut him away with an adult is the kids are getting OTT

Not to sure if it is a toilet training issue as weekends/evenings when we are in the house he will bark and run to the door and if you say go do a wee he will go straight into the garden and do it.
Somebody suggested that he could be doing it in spite " ok you've left me so I'll do this" can they be SO clever if thats the case then why only sometimes and never any time pattern left for 10 mins or left for three hours (this is the longest he is left).
In most other areas he is great loves to play with the children and us ,fetches the ball- drops- sits and waits for it to be thrown again,he learns things so quickly .Distracting him works easily as you only have to call him or show his ball the only time he will not come is if another dog is involved then he has very select hearing.

Will never agree with the spite thing, why would a dog choice to soil it's own nest. Forget that something else is going on and I still think it is separation anxiety in some form or another.

Think going back to square one will reinforce what the dog has learned with you and help increase his confidence, don't forget the praise.

Not suggesting the dog does not play with the children particularly if they are constructive games like throw and fetch, I was just suggesting you separated them when things get over excited.

I thought the same when I was first told about spite thing. Why would a dog choose to soil it's own nest, but he does, on his pillow as well.

Think it far more likely to be something between a feeling of unease and blind panic. Spite is a human thing unfortunately. :-(

1) I would invest in a crate and make it as den like as possible with a cover over and waterproof bed inside. That way he gets the comfort of a bed, the security of a den, and you don't have a huge clean up as the beds can literally just be hosed clean without the padding getting wet. Although I would introduce him to the crate gradually as you don't want him seeing it as a prison but as a sanctuary.
2) Humping - Frankie my terrier does this to Diesel the staff when he is playing with one of the other dogs, he's neutered and still does it, and he was neutered fairly early at 6 months old. I don't tolerate it and in the beginning told him to get off and physically removed him each and every time he attempted it. These days I just say get off and he does. You do have to be very persistant and consistant with this though, every single time they do it, tell them to get off.
3) Weeing on visitors shouldn't laugh I know but not one thankfully I have had to deal with. As you want him to socialise I would put him on a lead when opening the door and greeting visitors. That way he shouldn't be able to physically reach them to wee on, get him to sit and wait to be greeted, again consistancy will pay off. I would actually keep him on the lead while you have visitors so that he can't then lift his leg while they drink their tea. Just till he gets the idea of what is socially acceptable behaviour.

You can buy a longer lead about 6' or so and if he starts to improve give him more room to greet people.

I love jack russells - even with all their quirks.

I take it you have taken him to the vet to check he doesn't have a medical problem causing the soiling?

If you have and he hasn't got a problem it may well be insecurity, which time, patience and training will help.
For sure, it won't be spite!

Humping - well, my rescue jack used to do it, but she was spayed only two months before we got her. We blocked access to the table cross strut she liked to hump, so she transferred her affections to our legs. Correction each and every time, without fail. We used a stern "no" and she'd stop. Took a couple of months before she wouldn't even try.

Weeing on visitors does sound like over excitement. Missy used to get so excited she would jump up.
We taught her a rock solid sit. By that I mean wherever you are you can call sit and she will do it. I would make her sit and wait in the living room - open the door and then give the visitor a treat to give her. Release her from the sit, she would run up to the visitor , they say "sit" and Missy would sit and get a treat.
A couple of months down the line of doing that, she now sits automatically before the visitors even say it!

And the real bonus? Every person is a friend to her - because naturally they all carry treats - even if those treats now are just a huge fuss! She's happy with that too!

Good luck with yours - have we seen any pics yet?

Thanks for your advise,
Yes he has had a check up and no problems though when we did get him he was riddled with worms and fleas which had to be treated by the vet.
How do you suggest we handle the problem of soiling,Ive tried lots of ways,paper training, ignoring,picking the mess up and putting outside where he normally goes,feeding only at night or morning splitting his food into small regular meals 3/4 times a day,and yes I will admit to shouting but thats only when he pulled all my towels freshly washed off the bath on to the floor then messed on them really don't know what else to try.
The wee is also a problem when we take him to friends houses the first thing he wants to do is lift his leg on the furniture in their homes which now means we don't take him out to other peoples houses apart from mother-in-laws as he has never even tried here-wonder if thats anything to do with smell as they come to our house his smell is already down on them (clutching at straws).
Thanks to everyone who has offered advise today overwhelmed at the response wish I had know about the site earlier.

Im not sure what to believe with this one. But after the issue with my two last night I put Morgan in the bathroom and she pissed on the floor. This dog NEVER goes to the bathroom at night unless she has a urinary and I know thats not the case right now (her urine was clear of anything out of the ordinary and when she gets them she gets them bad) And the only other time she does is when she is locked behind a door for some reason. And again she doesnt do it all the time.

It sorta sounds like what your little guy is doing....but maybe not.

Soiling I can only tell you what we did - and that was to put a dog door in. Our garden is very securely fenced to 6ft all round, so Missy can't escape. She needs to go wee, she goes out.
Further than that, I can't help - both my girls used the dog door.

As to the lifting his leg in others' houses, that may well be a marking behaviour and maybe castration would help. Again, I don't know, only ever having had girls. If you have a good relationship with your vet, ask their advice.

and as you have probably already found out - shouting never works with a jack russell. (in my experience)
Distraction works, reward based training works but shouting, never. You don't want to make him scared of you.
Play with him lots, be his friend - he'll do stuff because he wants to please you. Well, that's how it worked with my two!

We have had a really good week up till Friday afternoon,Tigger had not made a mess anywhere all week ,his training was coming on great ,I was beginning to feel at last we were moving forwards however when I came home on Friday I am now not sure.
As previously explained Tigger stays in the bathroom as it has a wooden floor so easy to clean,I kept to the same routine as all week left for work at 8.30 back at 12 , Tigger met me at the door, problem!! how did he get out of the bathroom,(my fault not shut the door properly) went into the kitchen and he had been up on the units and had wee'd all over my kettle, toaster and sandwich maker that were on the worktops spread around the room. What can I do.
Rang the vets got a water sample for him to test nothing out of the ordinary.
Vets as stummped as we are, but suggested casteration so he goes in on Monday.
Wish him luck.

Good luck Tigger.
This could solve the problem, I have little experience with dogs only bitches.
If not you will have to remember to close all doors

we have a dog flap and they have the run of the kitchen and conservatory when out had a few accidents when first started but now they go in and out when they like no problems and they even ask if the flap has been put down when we are cleaning the area, i would say try that my jacks love it as they have the freedom but can't get out.

also sounds like he is trying to get your attention with marking your items hun.

Good luck with the castration. If it is any help, Harvey my boy used to try to hump the sofa and a particular friend of ours for some reason. He also used to cock his leg in any house we used to visit and every two minutes up the road but that all stopped after he was castrated. There already has been some brilliant advice, hope it all goes well.