Terrier advice, off lead

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lizness

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Hello,
Am looking at maybe getting a terrier pup, however reading articles on the internet people have been saying they are sometimes difficult off lead, i.e. recall. Have known quite a few terriers that sem to have been ok with this. Is this a matter of training? Been looking at patterdale, lakeland, jrt, border mixes.
Thanks,
Liz
 
Would love to read any replys ive just got a border x jrt
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He still has a brother and sis needing homes.
 
As a breed they do tend to like chasing and hunting, so once they 'home in' on a target they can become selectively deaf! I don't think they are so much unwilling to recall, but rather so focused on what they are hunting that they can literally switch off and not hear you call at all.

Having said that, there is no reason why you can't overcome this with training. My JRT recalls perfectly, but I was paranoid about it and it's the one thing I worked with him right from the beginning more than anything else.
 
What Booboos says - also try and start training as soon as is healthy and lots of focus training so before you even go on your first proper walk, even in the garden, the dog knows coming back to you, even from a few metres away = awesome times!
Then slowly introduce distractions.

Long line training is another thing to try.
 
Thanks for the quick replies. Gao variour crosses in mind. Patterdale x Lakeland, and pure patterdale and lakeland seem to be quite popular. Anyone seem to have experience with these?
This will be my first dog but my boyfriend has lots of experience training sheep dogs so should be able to help
Liz
 
Tinkerdog (JRTXCairnXIndiscriminate Terrier
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) is fine off lead, she learnt recall pretty quick. However if she does get the sent of something it can take a bit of footstamping and very cross yelling to get her back, but that's a rarity.
 
Patterdales and lakelands generally make terrible pets, they are workers and have not been bred for anything else. Their prey drive is very strong. My OH used to be a terrierman and they were the breeds he used, we were always being offered ex pets that people couldn't cope with. Having said that he had a lakeland dog called Buzz who although he worked always livesd in the house and slept on the childrens beds, he was a star.
Borders are nice and easy going, the bitches are nicer than the dogs IMO.
JRTs depends on the strain.
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I have been breeding Jacks for over 20 years and have selectively bred for certain characteristics (eg don't breed with a bitch with the f***k off gene.) We find that the more you train them when they are small the better they are as adults. I have 3 boys available now if you are interested. They were hand reared as we lost the bitch so they are VERY humanised. They make good yard dogs and think they are big!
 
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