I got my puppy from a shelter that spayed her at barely 2 mos old, they microchipped her but lost the number so what good is the chip, and they told me she was a beagle/yorshire terrier mix. Now that she's older, a breeder and my vet agreed she is a beagle/jack russell terrier. I have a cat, everything i've read about jrts has made me afraid for my cat for the month i've had my puppy. She did look like a little beagle when i got her. I told the shelter I had a cat at home. I'm not going to return her, but I'm angry at the shelter and just like i said i'm always afraid for my cat now, everything I read about jrts mentions they kill cats. She is always playfighting with the cat, even when the cat doesn't want to. How do I stop their play fighting, I want it to stop so i won't be afraid. And should I do something about the shelter?
Answers:
Since you bought the puppy into your home with the cat already there it should be fine. My best friend and her husband have a ranch with 6 dogs and two cats. The dogs and cats all sleep inside. The cats are indoor cats only. They have two pure breed Jack Russells and they both love the cats. It's all in how the are raised. It sounds like your pup just wants to play with the cat. If it gets too ruff your cat will let the puppy know very quickly. I have an 11 month old Sheltie and she plays non stop with my cats. Once they have had enough they let her know and no-one gets hurt. As with my friends it one big happy family. If you're that worried don't let them be together when you're not there. If your cat doesn't stop the playing and you want her to stop, then make a Penny Can. You take a soda can clean it out and put about 7 to 10 pennies in it. When you want the puppy to stop, shake the can and say "leave it". Once your dog stops praise her. You have turned a Negative into a Positive. Good luck and all the best;~)
shelters are not experts on dog breeds
they took their best guess at what she is a mix of but its hard to tell what a mixed dog especially a puppy is exactly.
if your dog hasnt beeen aggresive towards the cat yet then he prob never will be
My sister has a jack russell terrier mix AND a cat, and they get along just fine. It's hard for shelters to know exactly what a dog is without ALL of it's history, so are not really to blame. I think the cat will be able to handle his own, or when they start to fight, seperate them. They'll get the point.
Get a bottle and fill it with water and when she does try and play with the cat spray that on her and in a firm voice say no then pull her away from the cat and hold her until she calms down and then let her go and if she does it again do exactly the same thing and she will stop because it will bore her.
If she is brought up with the cat there shouldnt be a problem.
There are planty of farms %26 stable yards that have both cats %26 jrs and they all live in harmony.
The shelter cant be 100% of the breed if she was a stray %26 just dummped dont go back you have probably founf yourself a very faithful wee friend.
good luck %26 best wishes.
If your dog was raised and socialized with your cat, everything should be OK. You don't need to stop them from playing. They have become playmates.
the shelter tries to do what it can. at 2 months it would have been near impossible to tell what mix the pups were. even your vet and the breeder would have had trouble. it's a educated guessing game. and often the workers are volunteers who are just spending their free time trying to help. if you want to change things at that shelter volunteer your time there. jack russels were bred to hunt and kill rodents. your cat is not a rodent. when your pup plays too hard with the cat, correct the puppy. i'm sure the cat will correct the pup too. if you continue to be scared of this dog, it will pick up on this and be the horrible dog you now think it's going to be. settle down, take a breath and raise this pup like you would the mix you thought it was. keep the pup up to date on vaccines, and take her to a training class so you can better strengthen you bond and teach her to respect and obey your commands. as for the microchip, take her into the vet or back to the shelter. they can easily scan her and get the number. it's very simple. if she's chipped the number is not lost, it's right there in the chip, all the have to do is run a scanner over her. and then you write that number on the registration form for whichever company the chip came from. you have a fine dog there. what you make of her is up to you.
I would without a doubt return the dog to the shelter you got it from immediately. It is TOO HIGH of a risk to take with your cat. I know several cases where JRT's have killed beloved pet cats. Don't risk it, take the dog back!
Sometimes it is very hard to determine a breed, especially in puppies. I don't think I would blame the shelter, so long as they agreed to take the dog back with no complaints. They did nothing wrong by spaying her at that age, it is perfectly acceptable, and medically sound. The loss of the microchip number is frustrating, and they SHOULD have given your dog a new one if they were unable to track the one they inserted in her for some reason. I don't know what the problem is there, all they have to do to get the number is SCAN the dog, and write it down on a post-it note. All microchip numbers should be registered with the company that made the chip (again, all you need is the number that you can get by scanning the dog), and preferably a second registry, like awolpet.com's microchip registry service.
It's moot to you, take the dog back... let them worry about the microchip problem, you DO NOT want this dog in your home with your cat!
Oh, wow. Yeah, sounds like they could use a new manager... I have seen lots of shelters that spay and neuter all their animals before allowing them to be adopted, for fear that the adoptee will neglect to have them spayed or neutered. I have mixed feelings on this topic myself.
The thing about the microchip is really horrible. I can't even believe that. JRT's are high prey drive dogs by nature; I would imagine that it is possible for you to teach the dog to behave around the cat though, even though you may never be able to leave them alone together. I would be careful correcting/scolding the puppy when she's playing with the cat, because it is just play. If you scold her for trying to play with the cat, she could potentially view the cat as a bad thing. I would distract her when she play fights with the cat, and praise her when she's calm around the cat.
Depending on your dog, she may or may not be able to be trusted with the cat. I got one of my own dogs at the age of 7 weeks, and raised him around the 12 cats that I had. As a puppy, he loved the cats, and was completely trustworthy around them. However, as he got older, he began to display aggression toward the cats, and now, at the age of 2 1/2 years, he has to be separated from them completely, as he has very limited tolerance for them.
First of all, you have a puppy...train it. Lots of jack russells live in houses with cats and the cats live. Some even can live in houses with birds...with the right training. Set the rules, if you notice the cat doesn't want to play, stop the puppy from playing with the cat. Teach your puppy HOW to play with the cat and when to leave the cat alone. I've got news for you, your puppy may not be a JRT, you (and the shelter, a random breeder and a vet) will probably never know exactly what your pup is...welcome to life with a pound puppy =). The idea of a pound puppy is to not go in with prejudices. You get 3 choices at the shelter: small puppy, medium puppy or large puppy. Whenever I take my dog places, I've had vets, dog enthusiasts and all kinds of people that should know better ask me what my lab is mixed with...my dog is an Anatolian Shepherd/Great Pyr mix, but because she is blonde...she's automatically a lab in everyone's mind. Don't listen to what everyone thinks she is and TRAIN HER TO BE WHAT YOU NEED HER TO BE. If she's just playing with the cat, teach her to play gentle and she'll okay. It all comes down to how much work you are willing to put into this.
I would let the shelter know about the mix-up and what your vet's opinion is. It's not always possible to correctly identify the mixes in a mixed breed, especially when the puppies are very, very young, and may have been found or turned in anonymously, so you can't really blame them, they did their best. besides, what good does blame or anger ever do? As far as JRT's are concerned, and their supposed cat killing issues, since your puppy will have been with you and raised with your cat since barely 2 months old, I think it is much more likely they will be great friends, rather than murderous enemies. However, if you start giving the cat preferential treatment or make the dog jealous or to feel left out in some way, you're bound to have problems. I would say crate them both or separate them when you're not home to monitor their behavior with each other, but allow them to be together absolutely as much as possible. Yes, JRT's can be terrorists, but as your puppy knows nothing else, I think they'll be okay together. My dog and cat are the best of friends and companions. When the cat has bloody well had enough, he will let the dog know it, believe me. In most cat/dog relationships, the cat's the boss. The beagle aspect should also mellow the JRT aspect a lot except perhaps where hunting wild animals and rodents would be concerned. JRT's were bred to kill rats, not cats.
The shelter can scan your puppy and get the microchip number. It is impossible to lose a microchip number. Shelters spay puppies at 8 weeks old because they want to make sure the puppy is spayed or neutered before it leaves their hands. There are a lot of irresponsible people out there who will say they will get their pet spayed, and even prepay for the surgery, but never actually get it done. Then they just get more puppies and kittens filling their shelter. And the animal shelter didn't know who this puppy's parents were, so they give their best guess at a puppies breed. Even you said she looked like a beagle/yorkie mix, how is the shelter supposed to guess correctly at EVERY puppy that comes through their door. They do their best to take care of as many dogs and cats they can, and determine which breeds the puppy may be. And I know A Lot of people who have both JRTs and Cats, and they do fine. If your puppy is raised with your cat, she will know not to hurt the cat. I have a pit bull and two cats. Everyone told me that you can't have both together, well now they get along fine. They play just as any other animals do. My dog sometimes gets a little Too playful with them, but the cats quickly let her know with a good swat on her nose with their claws.
Go back to the shelter, or even your vet clinic, ask them to scan your puppy for the microchip number. Once you find the number call the microchip company and get your information registered in their database. And if your cat still has his claws, your puppy and cat will be fine.
My pets:
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First: the microchip ... you can get the chip scanned by your vet or local shelter, then write down the number. Contact Avid and Home Again to see if they have a record of that number. If either of them do, then register the number ASAP. If not, register the number when you apply for your dog license. At least this way you'll know that the chip is on record somewhere.
Next: the breed ... I know people in Boxer rescue that always complain that most shelters cant distinguish a Boxer from a Pitbull. Also, many shelters are shrewd in that they know if they ID a dog as breed specific, they have a better chance of adopting them out. Example: card on the cage says that a dog is a Poodle mix might be more "adoptable" than a Dobie mix. But understand that it's not always easy to tell the breeds of a mutt (especially when they're very young).
First off, NOT ALL JRT's are cat killers! I fostered one (full blooded) for 6 months and I have 5 cats!
He's a mix and you got him as a puppy. It's difficult to say when they are puppies what they are exactly. It's not their fault the dog could not tell them he was part JRT or afford to genetically test him to find out his breed.
It is typical to spay dogs and cats at 6 weeks of age in shelters. Most have a weight requirement, not so much an age requirement. If they have a policy to only adopt out animals that are already spayed, then that means they would have had to house her much longer and care for her that much longer until she got adopted. That means other dogs get euthanized because she is taking up space waiting to be spayed. If there weren't so many breeders and homeless dogs then perhaps the system would be better, but we are greedy, mean, stupid, disrespectful, neglectful, ingnorant and unkind to the animals in the US have have a horrible over-population problem. The problem began with us, the solution lies with us and so far we have yet to come up with a good one.
Shelters go through many animals a day. Paperwork is easy to loose. Loosing the microchip stickers isn't the end of the world nor does it make the microchip useless. It can happen anywhere to anyone. Microchips are still useful. To find the number, scan her and the number will appear. Your vet should be able to know by the type of numbe weather it is HomeAgain, Avid, or 24PetWatch. Call the shelter and ask what type of chip it was. They should also be able to give you a phone number to register it or any chip regardless of type can be registered with HomeAgain.
What should you do about the shelter? Give them regular donations or see if they have a volunteer program and volunteer your time there. I'm sure they will appriciate the extra help and high standards of care.
I have a jack russell mix and even though she loves to play fight with the cat, she never hurts him. Just break it up when you see the dog trying to play with the cat. I also gate off a part of my house so the cat can climb over it to get some peace when he needs it. My dogs have never hurt my cat, just annoyed him. If you take the dog to your vet, they might be able to tell you what the microchip number is. Your vet should always have that information anyway. The shelter can't be responsible for the breed of your dog and it's behavior traits. They do they best they can and you CAN train your dog to leave the cat alone. Every time your dog goes near the cat, rattle an empty soda can with coins inside it. It creates a noise the dog hates and this will tell the dog they will hear something unpleasant every time it goes near the cat. I used this method to discourage my dogs from a lot of things and it works like a charm. Just make sure the dog doesn't see you do it and don't look at the dog when you make the noise. You don't want the dog to associate the noise with you!
A 20 oz. bottle with two pennies in it make s a great deterrent.
As soon as he starts messing with the cat, shake the bottle and say no or use the water bottle that someone else suggested. As for the MICROCHIP...go to any vet that has scanner. They should be able to scan the chip, get the number for you and what the brand is. If you can get that, contact the company that made the chip and find out about registering it with your name on it. Mine have a chip made by AVID. Home Again is another maker. Call the shelter and find out what brand they use then just have it scanned. They probably have the scanner also.
There have been a lot of good answers so far. The only advice I can add is to take the dog to training classes. It is the best thing I have ever done with my dog. She is so much better behaved and it was a great bonding experience, not to mention a lot of fun. Dogs want to please their owners and training teaches them how to do that, so everyone can be happy...including the dog and cat.
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