Miniature Dogs

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Hi,
I have a near 5-year-old girl who since she was born has been around dogs. We used to have a lovely rescued jack Russell but he went away one year at Xmas. We think the travellers might have taken him again but we aren't too sure. Or maybe he's gone. Gone you know!

Anyway we now have a 4-year-old Dalmatian and my little girl is asking for her dog (J.R.*) since he's been gone for so long she seems to really miss him.
She got on great with both dogs but the Dalmatian is now towering over her and can be quite intimidating.

We tried a cat last year and that didn’t work out the kitten was always running away and screamed (I really mean screamed) all night long. My daughter was never able to even pet the kitten very very jumpy creature!

I’m now thinking of a miniature housedog. I should be moving out soon and if I get an apartment we might not have ground level to keep an outside dog.

Any recommendations?

Sigma Force

First of all you need to make sure where the dog will be will be secure, there are a lot of dog thefts going on and sadly many are taken especially the pure breeds.
Will an apartment be large enough to house 2 dogs?
There are many small breed dogs and jack russel dogs in rescue all the time.

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well i wont be taking the dalmation since its my parents dog. and this is why we are looking for a housedog because the Jack Russell was an out side dog ever since we got him! i would go for another Jack Russell I've had a few and yes they were a nice breed its just difficult to keep them as an indoor pet!

hadook

jrt's make excellent indoor pets. I know several people who have them. Why do you think they're difficult to keep indoors?

I have a Great Dane x German Shepard foster who's "difficult" to keep indoors, but only because he had no formal housetraining as a puppy and no awareness of his own body. He's murder on legs when it comes to things on the coffee table. That doesn't mean I'd regard all large dogs as difficult to keep indoors. (I have 6 here at the moment - floor space is a treasured memory....)

Arcadian

Be sure to check with the management company of the apartment complex before getting a dog - many such developments disallow dogs and there's no point in letting a child become attached to a puppy if your likely to be forced to give it up at a later date.

I would agree that a jack russell puppy is not the ideal candidate for apartment living, terriers by their nature are very active dogs. Perhaps adopt an older dog, even a JRT in this case, as they will not be such a handful.

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just from my experience withs JRT's they have always ended up out door dogs not indoor!

plus i'm looking for a smaller dog than a JRT