I have a ton to do today, so I will be back late this afternoon. DougJ is heading out of town for a couple weeks on the most elitist trip ever, so posting might be light today.
*** Update ***
Someone from another thread:
The main reason I’m coming out of hiding this time is that I’m still worried about Tunch and (to a lesser extent) Lily. Just a few days ago John said he’d never trust a JRT around his cat, prompting me to read up on the issue… a few googles and I understood and agreed with that statement. Was there a post since then that I missed, presenting new information that soothed those fears…. or is it just that the indisputably adorable Rosie has charmed her way into our host’s heart, and pushed other concerns to the back of his mind?
It boils down to the fact that I have observed her behavior, and she just is not interested in him. At all. Treats, balls, chew toys, my lap, walks, rabbits, birds, people- major interest. Tunch- no interest.
I still stick to my assessment that I am never going to trust a JRT alone with Tunch. I’m just going to avoid that situation. She gets crated or he goes to the basement in the situations when I am not around.
But as for every day behavior when I am around, I’m just not worried. If there was any reason for concern, Rosie would be gone. I will never put Tunch in danger.
BTW- Rosie and Jack Russell Terriers are not charmers. They are forces of nature. Lily is a charmer. Tunch is a charmer. Rosie is a focused ball of intensity.
MikeJ
He’ll be boating down the canal latéral à la Marne to select the best wines to use in his private label Dijon mustard.
PaulW
Just remember, whenever a Republican is trying to openly worship Reagan, substitute the name Nixon and you’ll get an idea just what it is the Republican REALLY wants to do.
Just remember, if you vote Republican this 2010 this is what we’ll have by 2012: Obama impeachment proceedings every day for his blasphemous methods of shoelace tying; taxes for corporations cut to zero; social services for the by-then 12 percent unemployed cut to zero; and yet another crappy Glenn Beck book.
Don’t Date RobotsDon’t Vote Republican!Jim C
DougJ’s been invited to a Renaissance Weekend?
Outstanding!
snowbird42
I have a JRT and focused is the word. Hes 20 lbs of energy and he is going to dig to the bottom of that hole!
Anonymous
I had a JRT with several cats. The JRT was fine with all of them and never harassed them. I think it really comes down to the individual JRT.
Out JRT actually thought of the cats as family and saved one once when it fell in the pool. Buffy jumped straight in and kinda man handled the cat to the shallow side with steps she could jump out of.
Then she died of bone cancer.
RedKitten
I suppose Tunch DOES have a certain curmudgeonly charm, rather like our esteemed host. But “charmer” is not the first descriptor I’d choose for him.
“Monolith”, perhaps?
Dork
Confused….just what does a JRT do to a cat that other breeds wouldn’t? And why couldn’t the cat defend itself by, like, jumping up 8 feet onto a dresser or shelf?
debit
I have to thank the various people who mentioned “It’s Me or the Dog.” I bought a couple episodes from itunes, and now have my DVR set to catch it. I like the way Victoria works with the dogs and handles the people. Very sensible and calm.
ETA: I took the day off today and planned for a nice long bike ride. And of course when I check the weather map there’s a giant red cloud blob covering the entire state. Feh
Montanareddog
@MikeJ
Wouldn’t the most elitist boat trip ever be one of the Weekly Standard’s cruises?
teejay
Has anyone out there experienced and more importantly have a solution for this: Getting “redirected” to an advertisement site when making a Google search. It’s driving me crazy. I’m about to go “postal” on a very innocent 21 inch flat screen. I assume I’m infected with some kinda spy bug program. How do I get rid of the little bugger?
teejay
Has anyone out there experienced and more importantly have a solution for this: Getting “redirected” to an advertisement site when making a Google search. It’s driving me crazy. I’m about to go “postal” on a very innocent 21 inch flat screen. I assume I’m infected with some kinda spy bug program. How do I get rid of the little bugger?
Larkspur
JRTs need exercise if they’re gonna have any chance for sanity, and, ideally, they need work of some kind, like agility courses. They need organized walks or runs. Being out in the yard isn’t enough.
I think the adage “a tired dog is a good dog” was written for terriers. John, you may need to employ a dog-walker, or maybe even a once or twice a week doggie day care (aka Doggie Summer Camp).
And yay debit. Stillwell is worth viewing. Her people-training skills are impressive, too. Good luck with the giant red cloud blob. I hear there’s no way to cap those.
debit
@teejay: First you need to find out what you have. Get malwarebytes for starters. http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php You can also try scanning with Housecall here: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ Assuming, of course, that the malware will allow you to. If not, go to another pc and download malwarebytes on a flash drive.
If malwarebytes and/or housecall can identify it, but not remove it, run a search on it (again, from another pc if you have to) and usually you can find a removal tool. Good luck.
Forgot to add: stop using IE. Download Firefox and get adblock, flashblock and noscript.
Mary
@Dork: It’s not so much that JRTs do things that other dogs don’t do, it’s just that they do things at a much higher rate of intensity. Also, like most terriers, their prey drive is generally through the roof, which is why people tend to be concerned about JRTs around cats.
That being said, I think John is making the right decision using all the information at his disposal. If Rosie hasn’t shown any interest in Tunch yet, I’m sure they’ll be just fine.
teejay
To: Debit @ 13
Thanks . I’ll try the downloads u suggested. I’m suprised that Norton 360 didn’t block this. As for switching to firefox, I’m sooo accustomed to IE. Will it really make that much difference?
jakethesnake
I had two JRT’s, both male and not fixed. They loved to fight with each other and kill squirrels. I had many room mates over their years and a variety of cats. I saw those two dogs, each around 15 pounds go tag team on a giant rotweiler and it went running with its tail between its legs. They were crazy dogs, the best ever. They never went for any cats. They might run up on them and bark, but they never went beyond that. They clearly thought they had a chance with dogs 3 or 4 times their combined weight, but those cat claws stopped them short every time. My experience may be limited, but your situation wouldn’t worry me a bit.
debit
@Larkspur: I like how she sets the dog up to succeed. It’s really the same philosophy I would take with a horse, first find out what they can do and use that as a building block to get them to the next step, praising for success, going back to the previously mastered step when there’s failure so they don’t get frustrated.
And yeah, I like how she trains the people and has no qualms about telling them straight out that they need to work harder for their dogs.
@teejay: Trust me, once you get used to Firefox you will never go back. You can easily import your bookmarks, and once you set up adblock, noscript and flashblock, you will never see another ad again (unless you want to) and will never get a popup or a forced redirect.
teejay
@debit: Thanks again. O&O
catclub
@teejay:
No, no, keep using IE. No one in the universe has ever found any hint of a scintilla of a link between IE and malware.
Switching to Firefox in an attempt to fix the problem is going too far. Adblock, flashblock, and noscript could not possibly make a difference.
MikeJ
@catclub: Awful early in the morning to be that high.
EFroh
Well I say TRUST BUT VERIFY, Mr. Cole. More photos of Tunch are necessary. :)
Liz
Thanks for the update-I was wondering what Rosie’s current status was. Being vigilant around the crew is never a bad thing.
And as for photos, I was thinking we need for baby pics. Not that I don’t love the pet pics, but there is a dearth of babies lately.
Karen
We were at an inn this weekend that allowed dogs. A couple came in with their JRTs. Those dogs didn’t stop. Any person they met in the halls had to pet them, or get jumped on. They appeared to be happy dogs, from what I saw.
We got home to our nutso German shepherd & appreciated her more.
Paul L.
Outrageous Reich wing Death Threat.
Shinobi
I have a 90lb husky. If you want to talk about breeds that are not supposed to be around cats Huskies are probably the number 1. They have a high prey drive and no impulse control or desire to be obedient. Very common posts on husky boards are about how their dog killed someone’s cat.
But my dog LOVES cats. And not in a he’s going to eat them kind of way, he play bows with them and sleeps next to them. Our cats, other cats, outside cats, indoor cats, fine, no problem.
However small dogs on the he cannot be trusted with AT ALL. Anything smaller than about 30 lbs is bad news, he just has to be kept away from them for the other dog’s safety. It’s like he got the Small Dogs vs. Cats wires crossed, very strange.
Every dog is different and John is doing the right thing assessing the situation independently. Good luck with Rosie the Riveting.
Kristine
@catclub:
Granted, ymmv, but they can also slow down your system something fierce. I’ve pretty much stopped using FF/adblock/noscript on my MacBook because a few minutes after start-up, the entire system slows down to the point that I have to reboot. This has happened to other folks who use FF w/ adware & noscript on a Mac, so it isn’t just me. Don’t know if the same issue affects PCs, but. FYI
debit
@Kristine: I think catclub was being sarcastic. As far as the slow down issues, I’m also on a Macbook, and have no problems. I know there was a memory/resource issue in Firefox a couple releases ago that caused something like what you described, but it should have been resolved by now. Are you on the current version with all your ad ons updated?
Kristine
@Shinobi:
Gaby looks pure terrier mix, but I had her DNA tested and there is supposedly a lot of husky in there. The vet didn’t see it so much in her appearance–except maybe her tail–but in her behaviors. Her post-surgical woo-wooing was so bad that vet had to hold her mouth closed because they could hear her all over the clinic. A husky trait, apparently. I could have saved the test money and settled for the vet’s assessment. When she received her copy of the test results, she just sat at her desk and giggled.
So, an apparent cross of two breeds with high prey drive. Gaby has killed mice, moles, squirrels and this past weekend her first bird. She lurks near the birdbath like a cat when she isn’t lying near the back fence and watching the chipmunks in the neighbor’s driveway. She will watch them for hours. If they’re not there, she waits. She’s a world-class lurker.
Shinobi
It’s True. As Vlad’s vet often says as he whimpers pathetically for no apparent reason at all. “It’s tough being a northern breed.”
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
I’m beginning to think Tunch may be too large to trigger Rosie’s prey instinct ;-) You may want to rethink the diet, John.
Ecks
I use noscript, and while I’m sure it saves me from some bad things, it is one of the endless irritations of my life going to web pages for the first time, filling out a form, and then it won’t submit. Or the video that is supposed to be there isn’t. Or there’s no content. Then I have to go to the noscript menu and guess which servers to allow (usually it’s obvious, but not always), and then often the form I had filled out gets blanked and I have to do it all over again.
But I put up with this bullshit, because otherwise I have higher odds of getting a virus from some asshat… so there you have it, hackers fucking with your life even when they don’t give you a damn thing.
eemom
Tee hee. She’s just not that into you, Tunch.
Caya
Terriers are a very diverse bag of overflowing energy, so John’s doing alright, I think. My grandparents once had a Terrier mix that had grown up feral, and while she hunted and killed most everything when given half a chance by us being inattentive when she was outside (mice, squirrels, birds, she even went for the crows but much to her chagrin they were too clever by half and she never got one – she *hated* crows for that) she wasn’t interested in cats at all. Probably got confronted with the business end of a feral tom’s claws as a youth and decided they weren’t worth the trouble.
Mnemosyne
@Paul L.:
Har har har! It’s not really a death threat if I tell you to go die in a way that’s physically impossible!
Maude
In Firefox, if you can find, warn me if a website tries to redirect, put a check by it. May help, may not.
This has been a problem with Facebook and they are trying to fix it.
licensed to kill time
__
This is what makes John Cole such a good pet owner. He observes behavior, he identifies problem behaviors, he solicits advice, he chooses the advice that fits his pet and his situation and he implements it. Would that all pet owners were so observant and careful…in my lifetime I have seen too many pets harmed by either thoughtless owners who just didn’t pay attention to their animals, or overindulgent owners who foisted all their neuroses onto their poor pets and made them into stand-in babies.
Yay Cole! Good luck with Rosie, you have done a V.Good Thing.
daryljfontaine
@Shinobi:
Hee.
D
Irony Abounds
I realize I’m swimming against the tide here, but frankly John, I think you’re nuts. Do you really need a pet that requires such constant attention? You did a wonderful thing by saving her from the highway, just as you did a wonderful thing by taking Lily in, but don’t you deserve some time for yourself? That wouldn’t be selfish, it would be sane.
asiangrrlMN
Cole, I think you have a fine grasp on the situation. Still, I want to see pics of Tunch to make sure he’s all right.
@RedKitten: Tunchie is completely charming to me. I actually find him more charming than Lily, but YMMV. Speaking of charming…any more vids of SamKitten?
Daddy-O
If you want to trust your dog–ANY dog, ANY breed–around another animal, another dog, another person, alone, all you have to do is read and implement “Cesar’s Way”.
Basically, it boils down to choke collar training, something most Americans just can’t bring themselves to do. They forget that dogs are not people, and that pulling that choke chain around its throat DOESN’T HURT the dog in the slightest (that doesn’t stop them from giving out with a hoarse choke, in a lame plea for sympathy that almost always works on the dog owner). But once you pull on it, you have their complete attention, and after a while they’ll accept you as their superior. Again, most Americans just can’t put their beloved pets beneath them, and it makes dogs neurotic, but Cesar is making his fortune on this silly nationwide predicament, so it’s all good.
My neighbors let me take their young, incredibly strong but beautiful and friendly pit bull Rocky for walks every day, for a few months straight. I trained him, and he trained me. Now he minds me in every respect possible. I’m fifth place in his dog pack, below his family members at home, but I’m still ahead of HIM. And that’s the only way you train a dog.
:-)
daveNYC
I’m not so sure about keeping the JRT around. It didn’t take much google-fu to round up a couple of stories of JRTs that had played nice with the household cat(s) for years, and then one day happened to be left alone with them for an hour or so and then *crunch*. Sure you can make sure they’re never alone together, but having a pet that requires that level of supervision just isn’t my cup of tea. YMMV.
debit
@Daddy-O: I think there are situations that call for specific tools, but not every situation requires the same tool every time. Just like there can be a specific use for a severe bit, in unskilled hands it can ruin a horse forever. You are, if I’m reading you correctly, advocating the use of the same force based tool for every handler, and for every dog, in every situation. You may think you know what you’re doing, but I’d never let you near my dog.
Woodrowfan
Our psycho Rat terrier got loose once at night when my wife was walking him in our backyard. there were two bigger loose dogs there, a German Sheppard and some other dog the same size of indeterminate breed. Our 16 lb terrier drove both big dogs out of our yard with their tails between their legs (when the Sheppard went past me our terrier was about 1/8th of an inch from its neck). As soon as they left our yard, our dog stopped chasing them, trotted back to our front porch, and sat down proudly.
There’s a reason why ‘terrier” sounds so much like “terrorist’ and why their humans love them so much…
Larkspur
Jack Russell Refuge has info about Jack Russells, how to adopt ’em, how to surrender ’em. They are clearly not meant for everyone, but they can be such delightful, smart, joyful companions. Two of my very favorite dogs were JRTs. Both were rescues. First up was Howard. He got himself adopted…by the letter carrier he saw every day! (The letter carrier is my friend.) The second one arrived a year later after having bounced around between a few households. He had to be named Melvin. Yes, they were terriorists. But I loved them.
Of course, if I had a JRT or any terrier, or any dog at all, with me at my apartment right now, the dog would be going absolutely nuts. Across the street is a steep hillside that eventually levels out and is chockful of condominiums and apartments. But lots of scrub and invasive stuff grows on the hillside, and it’s fire season. So California Grazing has come to the rescue with a battalion of goats and some fencing. The goats are chowing down and looking cute and making lots of goat noises. Apparently they are especially fond of poison oak, a great delicacy.
I’m having deja vu. I may have posted this exact same post here not long ago. If so, sorry. And thank doG for the internet’s short memory.
Stacy
@ debit
Word. I think as far as dog trainer TV personalities go, she is the best one.
I almost want to submit an application to her show, so that she can help me with my problem of my German Shepherd/Lab Mix wanting desperately to kill my cat. Nothing I’ve tried has worked, and right now we have a situation where the cat lives upstairs, the dog lives downstairs. :(
I will say, and I’m sorry to do so because I don’t want to cause worry, that my dog had no interest in my cat at all when we first rescued her (the rescue group even said she was great with cats, but she was shuffled around quite a bit among them because of her aggressiveness towards other dogs). It was only when she became comfortable in the house (after a few months) that she decided the cat must die. At first it seemed like a possessiveness issue, and we messed up and just separated them instead of dealing with it, so now it’s a prey issue.
Anthony
True story – only tangentially related. My great-grandfather was a big dog person and he took the view that a fellow could never trust a German Shepard, that they were always one step away from turning nasty. A woman he knew was also a big dog person and she had a German Shepard and was very keen on them and disputed his contention in what became something of an acrimonious feud among the doggy set.
Anyway, my great-g’father eventually modified his opinions and came to hold the view that German Shepards were unusually difficut dogs but that they were not fundamentally a Bad Thing.
However, this was not on account of the German Shepard that belonged to the woman with whom he had the vendetta. Some while after the feud started, it turned on her and bit her nose off. Which just goes to show… well, there’s no moral really, it’s just slightly odd.
Kristine
@debit: I’m pretty sure I’m up to date. When I fire up FF, I get the adblock/noscript “Updates are available” box, and usually update. I could be behind as of late because I’ve been avoiding using FF.
The folks on my Macs list who aren’t having issues with FF/AB/NS have much more powerful Macs than I do. It could be that my two year-old MacBook simply isn’t keeping up with the software that’s out there.
mattt
Thanks for replying to my comment, John. Sounds like you have things well in hand. Good luck and good times with all the brood!