Any Advice for Training my Jack Russell mix?

I recently adopted my dog Rusty, who is a Jack Russell/Dachshund mix. But his actions, personality.... everything about him is totally Jack Russell! He is a great lttle dog, full of joy and energy. But my concern is for his safety, since when outside on a leash he is in high gear at all times--- In the hunt and chase mode. If anything moves, he wants to chase it. (Especially squirrels, he never forgets anyplace he has ever chased or seen a squirrel) And although we are making great progress in the area of training when things are quite and he is focused and nothing distracts him, I am finding it almost impossible to get him to slow down and hear anything when something catches his attention when trying to walk on a leash. I am very fearful that sometime he is going to get off of his leash, take off chasing something and run out into traffic. I don't even want to think about what could happen to him. And I would love to eventually be able to take him to off leash areas in parks so he can run off his energy by playing fetch off of his leash. But for now that is totally impossible, he would be off to the races.
Does anyone have any tips, suggestions, or know of good books or resources for this type of thing? I know it's possible to train this kind of dog, I've just never had a dog of this nature to train myself.
Thanks!

 

Pam, welocme, and what agreat thin you did saving his life. There have been some great post on this, hopefully someone will chime in. Do you have a dog park where you can let him run. Because of that prye drive JRT have, I would keep him leashed until he is off leash tyleand.

good luck
honeybear

 

Start buy getting a training leash 12' and short lead 5'.A choke collar is choice to use but you can do it with a harness or regular collar. Work with him in the back yard (fenced in yard best) He needs to know sit,stay,come,down commands to get him started to lessen to you. The trick here is once they begin to respond to your commands put more distance between you and him That where the long leash comes into play. Walking well I like the four point box myself. Just make a box (four points mark with something at each corner) 20,25' from corner to corner. Make sure there is nothing for him to play with in the yard when you set up your box (flowers,toys,can't reach anything.)Then you just walk to the first corner and stop giving the total length of the leash to your dog, let them run and play around, wait for a few minutes 2-4 at each corner. Then walk to the next corner do not look at him and do not talk to him and don't stop walking even if he goes in a different direction and cries and jumps at you. The trick is to pull him as you go not yank him, you should have the leash in both hands at your chest not at your side at all times, you may have to drag him as you go but if you do it slow it won't hurt him just don't stop. After a few times he well not like being pulled around and well begin to come to your side and as he comes to your side bring in the extra leash and do not praise him just keep going around the box stopping at each corner for 2 -3 minutes. You must make him think you don't see him or care where he is at and he won't like that after a while. Some dogs pick up on this fast others take a few days but you should do this for a week everyday even if they start to walk at your side with out calling for them or saying heal. You know you can train a dog with out ever saying one word. We use words so they know what we want when they can't see us but to learn with out words is a great help for both of you. It's kind of hard explaining this in writing but I hope it is some help to you and you can e-mail me if you need more info. This is just the way I work and there are a hundred other ways to choose from.
Oh by the way distraction are a good thing as your training gets a little farther along.

2pyrs

 

A have a weiner Jack toooo.. well 2 of them

I also have 2 weiner jacks, there mom was a jack russell and dad was a dachshund... it was an accident but I think they should breed them like this on purpose...

My Brownie and Fudge are very much like Jack Russell's especially when it comes to walking on a leash and squirrels, cats... anything that moves really.. even dry leaves.
What I did was buy the 15 foot retractable leash but that was after trying to teach them to walk on a smaller leash for about 6 months. Once they got used to that I decided to give them a little more freedom. Well they love it and they don't pull me anymore (unless they see a squirrel or cat or anything else...)
Now whem I hike with them they enoy it more because they "think" they are free but they are attached to me.
I worry about them too because they are very resourceful when it comes to getting out of the yard or house. The other day the Santa Ana winds blew a board off the neighbors fence and the little buggers squeezed through into the neighbors yard and out their gate! They are always next to me so I knew right away they were missing. One morning the front door was open and I have no idea how long they were gone. We started looking for them at 5:30 AM when I got up and we looked everywhere!!! I mean for hours! Finally around 7:45 we came home and decided to make posters. I went to the front yard and there they were sitting on the grass. When I opened the door they ran in got some water and tried to head back out!!! And all that time I was bawling thinking they were scared or hit by a car!
UGH! Now I check the fence, the holes under the fence, the front door, the back gate etc... just before going to bed!
I saw Rusty on Dogster and he is the cutest!!!!!!!