<p>Congratulations! Enjoy your new furry baby!</p>
<p>Congrats…now re-read How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With, by Rutherford and Neil.</p>
<p>We ordered that and the Kilcommen dog book. It has been 10 years since our last puppydom. </p>
<p>Now for a name…(he comes with “Remmy”, which we may keep.)</p>
<p>That sounds like a good terrier name.</p>
<p>Ellen, awww… Love the name and vote for keeping it! It is cute, fairly unique and has the required “rrr” sound.</p>
<p>Remmy (name not confirmed) arrived late last night from rural Kansas. Cute as a button. Now it’s time to see what trouble he can get himself into. We’ve got some Boundary, and a pheromone stick for his business area (don’t know if any of these work). He seems to have already carved out an area to bring all his toys.</p>
<p>Now the question is: to crate or not to crate.</p>
<p>Crate. It makes puppy training much easier, and if they need to be crated at the vet’s for some reason, they are much less miserable if they’re familiar with being crated and know how to settle down.</p>
<p>Another vote for crating. I don’t have a ton of experience with dogs, but everything we read when we got our Wheaten said crating was the way to go.</p>
<p>Definitely crate.
Helps with housebreaking, with separation anxiety, with destructive puppy behaviors. Useful for travel on planes or even in cars.
My dogs consider their crates their little homes, where they can nap and have down-time.</p>
<p>We know about crates. It’s just our Westie never did. But we went out and got one, but puppy is currently crashed under table. His first day on a leash, and he’s fine with it. (Though freaked by cars and lawnmowers - he’s never seen either before.) He has this great jump off the patio - I’d like to call him Fosbury, but my wife won’t have it.</p>
<p>ahhh . . . have known I like you, mini, despite our differences on politics. You’re a terrier person and terrier people are special people. They like a smaller dog who struts around and owns the Earth beneath their feet. As our vet says – terriers are dogs who like routine but have very busy (ie, intelligent) personalities.</p>
<p>Have lived with and loved a variety of terriers and terrier mixes since my own childhood. Would have to say our hands-down favorite has been the Jack Russell but here you are venturing into breeder territory (no pun intended). You want to find the non-show Jack Russell and by all means non ultra-hunter Jack Russell and find the lowly mellow Jack Russell that chases butterflies but not meat.</p>
<p>We did that year’s ago from a really run down farm in AL and we loved our dog so very much that when she finally died at the age of 17 (Jack Russells are very healthy dogs) we made quite a drive back and obtained another from the same breeder. Now, before you start going all high and mighty leftie on the breeder thing, mini, you have to know that a lot of breeders are really poor people who couldn’t give a c*** about dog shows and just like producing a really fine dog. </p>
<p>Our first Jack Russell (with papers that we promply lost) cost $150. The second was $200.</p>
<p>Now, why are they the best of the breed and of all canines? There is the IQ which is definitely present in them. Then there is the fact that they really, really think they are human beings. They are very social creatures and feel the vibe of the family that is pretty amazing. When I am sad, my dear dog will not leave my side, shadows me about the house, looks at me with those big brown limpid but snapping with intelligence eyes and makes me feel infinitely better. When the sun is shining on our home, she gets that too and makes the sun shine brighter.</p>
<p>I adore my Jack Russells. They are my only truly gifted children.</p>
<p>Only bad thing . . . they shed. Other than that, the perfect dog.</p>
<p>Our breeder is a homeschooling family in rural Kansas, where the breeder is a 13-year-old who breeds Welsh terriers to pay for college and mission trips. No show-breeding here. </p>
<p>Jack Russell’s are (we have heard) a little bit too much dog for us these days…needed something a little mellower (but still, and always, a terrier.)</p>
<p>I could have sworn I could teach our Westie to read, if I’d put in the time.</p>
<p>We are thinking of getting a Westie pup (or even two) now that we have more space having moved to New Jersey of all places. Have been told that Westie puppies combine really well with older Jack Russells.</p>
<p>One thing holding me back is the expense, not of acquiring the dog but of the vet costs here. $750 for our Jack Russell’s annual check-up and vaccines this year.</p>
<p>The Welsh terrier is high on my list of dogs I would love to own, Mini. But they are not easy to get here in the US and pricey. My friend was all set to get one from GB, as her husband is British and has family there that were going to get the dog there and they would take it back when they went on vacation. But they fell in love with a rescue dog in the meantime.</p>
<p>PM me if you get the Welsh terrier. I’d love to enjoy one vicariously. Maybe when my kids are done with college, if I don’t fall in love with a rescue dog or my DH or DS doesn’t bring home a dog, I’ll get one…</p>
<p>Remmy is a blast!!! Ellen has posted some photos on Facebook (and if you send me your e-mail via PM again, I’ll send photos.)</p>
<p>Even with air transport, he wasn’t that expensive (as dogs go), though I imagine if you get one through a show breeder in the New York area, they could cost a fortune. (Remmy is from rural Kansas. I can send info. on the breeder if you like.)</p>
<p>Congrats on your new pup! I am thinking about a small dog for the first time ever. My neighbor’s Westie was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known. I am also looking at shiba inus because they look a little like miniature versions of my elkhound. (I realize that is a silly reason to choose a breed.)</p>
<p>Westies are awesome! (we just wanted something different so we wouldn’t be reminded of the other one, and something slightly taller, so we wouldn’t trip over him.)</p>
<p>Congratulations! I’m late to this thread, but our Kerry Blue will be 12 in July. We had a neighbor who raised Welsh terriers and she said a lot of Welsh owners had downsized from Airedales. She would never leave two females alone. Sounds like the males were the mellower sex.</p>
<p>A lack of thumbs is the only thing that stops our dog from writing. I see his frustration and he’ll often mutter, like when his water bowl is empty. He wouldn’t be so rude as to bark, but being an Irishman, he’ll say under his breath “what does a guy have to do to get a drink around here?” and then push the bowl towards us. When H and I sit on the couch together, he’ll find space to join us, even if it means pushing one of the back cushions onto the floor. Like any terrier, he’s all about solutions. </p>
<p>KB are tireless watchdogs. They will bark and bark and bark to tell you things you need to know, like: there’s a strange man in the house, new car in the driveway, the mail has come, the neighbor’s garbage can is in the street or your friend is sitting across the table from you (and her tea cup is empty? I confess I don’t get that one). Our dog will not bark out of his own need (that’s what the mutter is for).</p>
<p>We use the crate, too, for DMD’s reasons as well as a safe place for dog to be when workmen are in the house. He’s learned that he doesn’t need to bark the alarm when he’s in his crate - he’s off duty.</p>
<p>Are you drawn to terriers because they are “the people’s dogs?” Don’t know if it’s true, but I remember reading that hunting dogs were reserved for the privileged with lower classes only allowed terriers because they were smaller and used for vermin control.</p>
<p>^ delightful post. Had to read it twice.</p>
<p>At one point, both our Westie and our Airedale/Shepherd were both alive, the latter having aged and become deaf. She’d lie down most of the day in backroom. When the doorbell rang, or the mailman came, the Westie would run all the way to the back of the house to get the Airedale, who would bound up and get to the door and window and start to bark ferociously (but if the mailman had let himself in, she would have lain down on the floor to get her belly rubbed.) More than a year after the Airedale died, the Westie would still run to the back room before bounding out to bark at the mailman. </p>
<p>Male Welshes are supposedly more mellow (and fun-loving) than the females. Or so some people seem to say (we’ve never owned one before). </p>
<p>We are drawn to terriers because they have a mind of their own, and want and expect to be treated as the people they are. But to live successfully with terriers, I think, you have to spend quite a bit of time getting yourself inside their minds.</p>