Jack Russel puppy

[TheGinSoakedBoy]

Evening all,
I've never had a puppy before so please, bear with me.
I have two children. The eldest is 9 the youngest 6. We have a medium sized house with a big garden. We have two cats one spends her life sleeping in the bedroom and the other is never seen he far prefers the outdoor life!.
We are seriously considering getting a jack Russel bitch.
Can anyone give me any experience on the breed?.
I work part time so the puppy would be in the house for 4 hours or so at a time. We have lots of time and space for walks so this won't be a problem.. But just how much energy will she have? .
Are there any health issues we should considere?
Thanks in advance for your advice

I'm another one with a Lab and a JRT.

I couldnt agree more with PP saying if you really want a Lab then thats what you should get. I'm in a toy town new build tiny 3 bed house and the Lab takes up hardly and space because he's a calm, lazy lounger around the house kind of dog.

Our JRT is scatty, over excitable, bloody minded, wilful and destructive, he is no longer let off his lead because his drive to chase remains far too high and he isnt keen on most other dogs atm even though he's had weeks of socialisation classes. He is also fiercely loyal, adores 5 yr old Ds, and was easy to train in some respects because he's so smart, unfortunately he chooses to ignore me unless it suits him and his needs at any given moment. As for barking, i've got the only dog that goes into a barking frenzy if he farts let alone the door knocking. We have spent a lot of time trying to train that out of him and we have seen a slight improvement recently so we are persevering.

I absolutely love both the dogs because they are so different but life with our Lab was so much easier before we got the JRT but far less entertaining!

Hello,

I foster for Many Tears Animal Rescue and a few weeks ago I fostered three 5 week old JR puppies (siblings - 2 boys and a girl). I can honestly say that although all three were gorgeous they had 3 completely different personalities. One boy was an observant, quiet, happy, easygoing little chap. One boy was much more boisterous, inquisitive, playful and a bit cheeky. The girl was a super climber, agile, nimble and extremely confident. I have previously fostered loads of other JR pups and again they are all so different. I do keep in touch with a lot of their adoptive families and nearly all the pups have the same character as they get older so generally a quiet, calm pup turns into a quiet calm dog. A boisterous puppy, unless trained, will turn into a boisterous dog.

It might be worth keeping an eye on the website to see if there any JR pups that you like the look of (if not check again in a few days because every day pups get abandoned/rescued so the list changes daily) then if you apply for the pup you will get to have a long chat with the fosterer who will tell you all about the character of the pup so you can decide if that pup will suit you :-)

I have attached a link to one of the JR puppies I fostered earlier this year
www.manytearsrescue.org/display_mtar_dog.php?id=9458

Good luck, x

Hi OP , I have a Jack Russell bitch. She is 7 now and we got her at 8 weeks old. She is a brilliant little thing. She is not yappy or aggressive or any of the negative things mentioned up thread. The worst she has ever done is eat cat poo and stole chocolate which made her very ill. She loves other dogs, people, cats ( tries to snog mine) behaves beautifully when out and about and has perfect recall. However, I have had lots of experience with terriers and other breeds. I do not consider any terrier a good first dog.

Labs are a completely different kettle of fish. They are like sponges when it comes to training. They want to learn and want to please. A good first dog but I think an even better first dog for you would be a Whippet.

Thank you so much for all of your advice it's invaluable.
We looked into a jrt as friends of ours recently got one. It's very cute with a lovely personality. Maybe naively I thought it would be an ideal dog for our family.
YY to them being big dogs in a small dogs body! We've certainly seen that with my friends pup!
Previously we had an akita cross German shepard, many years before children though.
I've looked into greyhounds and whippets but dh isn't keen.
A lab would be my dream dog. I just worry because although our house isn't too small it's a maze of little rooms and I have visions of constantly stepping over a huge sleeping dog!.
Thank you again for all of your advice. Currently going to see a litter of jrt puppies at the weekend so I'll chat to the guy who's selling them. He's a friend of a friend so I'm hoping his knowledge will be truthful if you see what I mean.
Thank you all again.

Oh my word, the dog in the link provided is gorgeous.
The person with the tollier wow what a lovely looking dog!
Honestly I can't thank you all enough for your help.

Little dogs seem to fill the space they get too...yes he really is as long as he looks here and often sleeps like it - half border/half slug

Don't be put off terriers, I think they're great but be honest about whether you are up for the ride. I will be team terrier for life now

My Patterdale X lays like that as well ,we call it his frog impression. He also does a good job of eating bones upside down ,terriers are very versatile .

He has not managed that yet but does comando crawl for metres at a time in the above position...we call it slug walking! A terrier will give you a good laugh op even if it shaves a few years off your life with its escapades.

I have a JRT. She is very moody and bolshy but we love her. Hates kids though. And cats. And other dogs. I wouldn't have another JRT, she chewed my whole house for 2 years. Wallpaper, the lot. Little minx! Sorry, I've been mean about her in this post. She's a sweetie really and we love her to bits! Such a character!

We have a JRTx and she lays like that!
I adore her probably more than any dog I've ever had. She's a real dog dog if that makes sense, with an enthusiasm for life which is just wonderful.
However, she is the most difficult dog we've ever had. She's extremely feisty, has a horrible terrier yap which she overuses, and is utterly determined to get her own way. She thinks out everything and as a result she can open cupboards, food packets, doors and even her dog crate (which requires a push and lift at the same time). We've done extensive dog training classes with her and she is always the absolute star of the show, the dog they pick to demonstrate how it should be. Then she goes home and completely ignores everything she has learnt! She has a very high prey drive and eats rats and mice whole, fur and all. She needs more excercise than my parents' dalmation.
She's a really big dog in a 9kg body
Don't be fooled by the cute picture. In all honesty, I'd go for something different. I might have a JRT again if I had the energy as I love her to bits but never again would I get a JRT puppy. In fact, come to think of it, she thinks she's still a puppy at 4 years old. I've been told they calm down by 8 or 10, if you're lucky.

We have a jack Russell who is now 11.

She's a lovely dog, as others say she is very wilful and cannot be let off the lead as she runs and runs and keeps running! She can also be yappy, as are most little dogs. You have to be very firm with her, even now.

However she is a fantastic pet, loves cuddling up with us on the sofa but also running about in the garden chasing ducks. She loves walking, loves "helping" dh when he's doing outside jobs- gardening, chopping wood etc. and jumps in the car for a trip out. She's a real companion.

We had a cat when we got her and the cat was always the boss. (She sadly died a few years ago)

I would recommend them but be prepared to treat them like a wilful toddler and be firm from day one.

Oh, and this is her favourite place. Not because it's comfy, oh no. It's because it's actually her job to control the whole world, to bark at every passer by, to be ready to eat that threatening stuff called post, and to generally show potential criminals that we own the largest and most vicious dog that ever lived.

I would agree with fanoftheinvisibleman, terriers are wonderful. But you have to be very aware of what you are getting into. There are lots in rescues, sadly.

I have an 8yo PRT bitch and last year we got an 8mo border terrier cross from rescue.
I'd agree with absolutely everything everyone has said about PRT/JRTs! :o

Very independent, very willful and determined, astonishingly affectionate with people, dodgy with (some) other dogs. She's got more grumpy as she gets older (much like me, in fact).
Easy to train, but you have to put in the hours, and when she was younger she had more energy than any other dog I have ever met (and we used to have a working border collie!!). She can still outrun every single dog we know.
She was never a chewer, and has no prey drive, she's also not overly barky.
She's fine to be left for a few hours, it's one of the reasons we chose the breed.

The border terrier cross, who is now about 16mo, is an absolute dream of a dog and tbh if I was looking for another dog I'd be very keen to get another bt - she is unbelievable affectionate with everyone (dogs, adults, children), cheery, clever, easy to train, happy to go out and about but will also flop about dozing if we're having a quiet day. Really really wonderful dog. She does chew a lot, though, which I'm hoping she will grow out of, but is happy to chew on her toys and antlers etc rather than our shoes/furniture.

I would totally recommend border terriers!

This will totally out me as I've just put it up on FB, but here are my two :)