my uncombable Jack

[Radijsje]

We recently brought the Jack Russel, Shiva of my boyfriends parents' house into our home. For the past 4 years he didn't get any real training at all nor grooming. Well, he did when we was a puppy, but then my boyfriend moved out and nothing else happened. Now we are trying to correct his behaviour but one of the bigger problems, I have no idea how to solve it: everytime we approach with a brush to comb him, he start growling very viscously, snapping at us. Can anyone help us?

[***Melissa***]

Here is a link where Noobs described how she desencetised her dog, Murphy, to clipping his nails - you can use the same approach with the brush.
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4814

Here is also two links to "aggresive" behaviour.
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=6111
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5442

Something important to remember is that a dog's growl is very important - don't see it as agression, rather look at it as communication. Growling is a dog's way of telling you he is uncomfortable / afraid / not feeling well, etc. It may be that your dog is scared of the brush bc he's not used to it. If someone then ignores the growl and continue doing the thing that's making the dog uncomfortable the dog learns that growling doesn't work and will eventually stop growling, but will then bite. The best to do if a dog growls at you - immediately stop whatever you are doing and leave him. He may take a while to start to trust you.

Perhaps is would be better if you leave the combing for now - untill he trusts you, and then you can start slowly by introducing him to the brush as Noobs did with the nail clipper.

[Radijsje]

Thanks for the advice, Melissa! We'll certainly give it a try!