Jack Russel a good sibling for Chocolate Lab?

[Colin Puttick]

Our puppy Nestle is a spayed female chocolate lab and will be 1 year old in a month. I really want to get another dog because Nestle loves other dogs and I like playing and doing stuff with her. My wife grew up with Jack Russels and loves them to bits, plus they're a lot smaller than labs so we wouldn't have to get a bigger car!! (who knew a lab with her kennel, food and toys could take up 1/2 the car!) We'd be purchasing a rough coat Jack Russel through a respected local breeder.

Would a Jack Russel be a good sibling for an energetic, fun-loving, spayed female chocolate lab? And if so should it be a male or female Jack Russel? We've contacted a breeder about our intentions and her opinion was to have a male Jack Russel with our female lab. I'd rather have a female Jack Russel to avoid it humping us, visitors, and especially NESTLE! So what's your opinion?!

Colin

[TimberWolf]

Most people suggest getting a male and female and not two females. THey say that because two females might get a little territorial. I have two females and I never had any problems. I got my first girl when she was 6mos old and about 2 years later got the second when she was about 7 mos old. People warned me about the same thing. It probably has a higher chance of working out better with two dogs of the opposite sex, but it can work out fine with two females.

Jack russels are great dogs to have with other energetic dogs. If you raise your new jack as a puppy with a dog already in the house, that should not be a problem. If your dog likes other dogs and their gender isn't a problem, I don't see why getting a female jack puppy would be a problem.

[Emma Warbuton]

well, I am no expert on Jack russels but I have a 18month old golden that sounds alot like your Nestle (cute name btw!) you know...fun loving, loves other dogs.
A neighbour has just got an 8wk old Jack Russel (Snoopy)..and Tilly has met him several times and they get on great! Tilly seems to know that he is small and plays with him so gently, well she doesnt really play with him as he is so small, she kinda comes close to him...kisses him and then gets all excited and kinda bounds around away from him! I would say a Jack russel would be a great companion for a lab! As Jack Russels dont think they are small, so will probably play as whole heartedly as your lab! I have also heard that getting a dog a different sex to your first is normally better...and isnt humping something that you can train them out of?? (dont know much about this as have never owned a male) but I would definately get a male as my next!

[Jill Ramsey]

Humping isn't just a male thing, the females do it, too, as it's a dominance thing, not sexual. Especially in the younger dogs. My 2 labs, 5 months(still intact) & 21 months(neutered) both try to do it to each other. We just intervene everytime we see this behavior.

[Susie B]

My brothers have JRTs. The 1 brother has 2 males that get along with everyone and other dogs. (and one of them is actually calm). My other brother used to have 2 females, now he has 1 female and my sister adopted his other female. There were many bloody fights before he decided to separate them. Neither of these females tolerate other female dogs. My sister's finally got along with my male but he is sooo submissive. She once bit his ear and then didn't know what to do since all he did was stand there and cry!! My female rescue met my other brother's female last Memorial Day and we had to keep them supervised the whole time. I kept Missy on a leash to keep her a safe distance from her. Missy has gotten along with every dog she has encountered and goes to daycare and plays with all the dogs, male and female. I guess with my experience seeing my brother's 2 female JRT, I wouldn't take the chance. (even though it was his own fault in not appropriately training the dogs and being gone for days at a time for work)

[Sheryl]

My husband and I (he kept both dogs when we split up) had a chocolate lab and a small mutt, and I loved the combo of a big dog and a small dog. They were both females and got along great, but then again the chocolate lab (Taz) loves everyone and everything and would never ever fight. You're right about adding a small dog and then not needing to upgrade your vehicle. The two of them even shared a kennel. Good luck to you!

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Actually mounting is more of a stress behavior than a dominance behavior :-D
Mounting is not an uncommon behavior when a dog is wound up or stressed for some reason- playing with other dogs, visitors entering the home, etc.
I was taking Lewie to class a couple months ago & one night one of the other dogs became stressed & started to mount his owner. This dog was not at all dominate, just reacting to stress.

[Jill Ramsey]

I didn't realize that Melissa. Yes, it usually does happen when they've been playing or Finn is at the dog park and is wound up.

[Marsha]

I was wondering about that too. I had heard about it being a dominance issue and also a puppy play behavior. We had this with Spanky and redirected and interrupted his play. He no longer does this when anyone's around. However, in the late evening when he's at his most playful and the kids and husband are getting in from school and work, he will occasionally go into the family room while everyone's changing, putting their school books away, etc., and get the throw pillows off the sofa. Besides the pillow being off the sofa, we know what he's been up to since he is standing, tail tucked and looking very uncomfortable (and very 'large'). We're not sure what to do since he's done nothing in our sight. If I think about it and know it's when he's apt to do this, I'll put the pillows out of his reach. At any rate, it did seem unlikely that this was dominance related since he's all alone!!

[Eva Horn]

My dusty is a JRT and he loves bigger dogs,

My parents have an older black lab and they get along good.
And my fiances friend has a young lab just over a year old and they absolutely love each other!!! play wonderfully and for hours on end!

Actually we have contemplated getting a lab in the future because Dusty gets along so good with them!.

And the humping issue is not a big deal he went thru a phase of it for about a month but doen't do it anymore (13months now)

the only thing that I would prepare for it house training, I found that my parents lab (used to be mine until I moved out) was incredibly easy to house train, but Dusty was a bit of a handful! he's only been "trained" for the last 2.5 months.!

But He is the sweetest dog I think a Jack would be a great addition to your home! :dogrun: