<p>The only hesitation I have about the Welsh terrier and really any terrier is the amount of exercise they should get. The same with the dogs with hunting genes. We have a bull dog who is hyped up like a terrier and that has been tough going. We lost out on the stats in terms of the sedentary genetics. But they say, still better a hyper bull dog in terms of needing the romps than a laid back terrier who still is going to need more exercise. I am at my absolute limit in providing adequate exercise for our fellow. Anything more would not be met and not fair for the dog.</p>
<p>I had a fox terrier, beagle mix for 20 years who had the communication and awareness skills of a 2-3 year old child, maybe older in some areas. My fellow now is a perpetual puppy and needs 900 repetitions of anything to learn whereas the other needed fewer than 9. Most of the time he picked it up himself. Big difference in dogs. My DH could not believe that we ended up with a slow learner and not so bright dog after having several very sharp dogs(the mix being truly stellar). But we love him ever so much and he is teaching us that old dogs do learn new tricks. Though many of those tricks are old tricks that after 9 years he’s just finally figuring out.</p>
<p>We had read about the big need for exercise for the Jack Russell but it’s never been a problem. Give her a tennis ball and she will toss it in the air, catch it, toss it again, catch it, jump on chair and roll it off, bound after it, toss it, etc.</p>
<p>She exercises herself. Does not like walks on leashes. Adores jumping. Once scaled the kitchen counter to get to the turkey on Thanksgiving. The only athlete among my children, aside from being the smartest one!</p>
<p>You can try. A sprayer of water has shut our dog up somewhat. But it isn’t going to make a yapper into a Basenji. They also have collars that will give a slight shock for true hard cases and something that makes an ultra sonic buzz that annoys dogs’ ears when barking is excessive.</p>
<p>We have a bulldog of suspected mixed breed ancestry. I think there is terrier in there somewhere. It shows in the disposition, energy level and barking. He goes nuts at any new stimuli or perceived new stimuli. He has mellowed a bit in his old age and when shown the sprayer, he will calm down, but he still barks at anything that stimulates that reflex. The 'quiet" command and being shown the sprayer just shuts him up sooner. If the doorbell rings, or something approaches the windows and doors of the house, he is going to bark. Don’t want to stifle that instinct really. But once we are alerted, and the visitor is aware that there is a dog in the house, we tell him to be quiet, and he does pretty much respond to that command having been taught it through probably 9009 repetiions fo having his muzzle closed manually with our hand, telling him “quiet” and getting sprayed in the face and kennel boxed if he went into a barking frenzy after being told to be quiet.</p>
<p>Our Jack Russell only barks if the doorbell rings. We did the spray bottle thing to little avail. What we finally realized worked with her is to simply let her bark a few seconds and then greet the visitor. When we tried to shut her up or put her in another part of the house it made her very upset. If we let her bark, then wiggle her tail and roll over for a belly rub from the visitor all is well – so long as they don’t mind her following them wherever they go in the house. She loves to meet new people.</p>
<p>It is quite possible to train a barker not to bark, but you have to be absolutely consistent about it. I have two barkers… which I didn’t mind (I like knowing when people are coming to the house)–but it made my husband crazy and so I’m training them not to bark. I’m down to one barker and one non-barker.</p>
<p>I’m using a set of methods.</p>
<p>First, I’ve trained the worst offender to bark on command–and SSSHHH on command. This alone got rid of about half the barking. If I’m in the room, I can step in and do a BARK/SSSHHH cycle and then stop with SSSHHH. (How did I train BARK/SSHHH? Clicker training.)</p>
<p>Second, I trained LOOK AT THAT! in which I instruct the dogs to look at something and then click when they do–at which point they look back at me to be rewarded… but they don’t get rewarded if they bark. I started with LOOK AT THAT! in the bathroom and progressed to sitting at the window and actually looking at something. Now they can both sit in the window and watch dogs go by without barking. Except of course for the two big white poodles who live around the corner and go by every day around 2.</p>
<p>Third, if they continue to bark… I put the barking dog in her crate. Then I wait until she’s been quiet for at least a minute before I let her out. (My dogs LOVE their crates; they run there on command, even if they’re barking.)</p>
<p>(I hate the sprayer method. IMHO all you get is a dog that runs the other way when he sees you. Ditto for the holding the muzzle closed; I know people who’ve been bitten, hard, by dogs when they held the muzzle.)</p>
<p>I have always wondered about crating a dog for a “time out”. My dog’s crate is his sanctuary; wouldn’t putting him there when he misbehaves confuse him?</p>
<p>1moremom: I wondered too about using the crate as time out, until I did it. First off, my dogs adore their crates. They get lots of goodies in there. I play “race you to the crate” sometimes, too. They always win! So I didn’t want to mess that up by taking them to their crates when they were barking, but it didn’t poison the crate, and it did help with the barking. When they go to the crate for barking, it’s for barking; when they go to the crate when I leave, it’s a whole different set of circumstances. Somehow, they don’t confuse it. When I send them to their crates for barking, I go with them, close the door, and then stand with my backs to the crates until they stop barking for a minute (yes, I do time it). I don’t leave. I release them when they’re calm.</p>
<p>And mini, that’s exactly why I make an exception for Bentley and Royce (those really are their names).</p>