[xxxcloverxxx]

hi! I am moving in with someone who has a jack russell already, he works days and i'll be working nights, so we've decided to get another small dog for company. I've narrowed it down to either a cairn terrier or a rat terrier, i had 2 cairn terriers and find them to be an amazing breed of dog in almost every single way, from puppies they never chewed anything, are very quick and easy to train, such good company and a pleasure to have as part of the family. The only problem i had was there urge to run away at the first sight of an open door, the jack russell is trained to walk off the lead, we just open the door and he quite happily stays in the garden (which is ungated) but i think if we were to get another dog and it starts to wander, he might follow. I tried so hard to train my cairns and every web-site i look at says that you can train any dog to walk off the lead, but i think it really is their natural hunting urge that makes them run! i was researching other small dogs but every breed i looked at said that they can't be let off the lead, but i came across the rat terrier, they seem like exactly what i'm looking for, i just wonder if anyone either has a cairn terrier that walks off the lead, or a rat terrier owner that could give me more info, it seems like all the breed info sites are very nuteral, thank you.

[cigwyllt]

I have never understood why people pigeon hole dogs so easily. I am a bit of a Jack Russell geek and if I had a penny for every person who tells me that a Jack Russell can never be let off because of its' hunting instinct I would be rich. I would be equally rich for every person who tells me that their JR has perfect instant recall LOL! You have already found a Jack Russell with great discipline - why not have an equally well behaved Cairn?

I don't know Cairns or rat terriers particularly well - we don't have rat terriers here in the UK and Cairns are usually more pets than workers so go with your heart and get the dog you love :-)