Fox terriers - does anyone have experience - would I be mad?

[SixOClock]

I am used to biddable non-terriers. Please tell me about your fox terrier!

I had a fox terrier 20 years ago, from the top breeder in the game at the time, sadly now passed away but she was a kennel club judge, wrote books on the breed etc.
The dog was a nightmare, had a screw loose from the minute we got him. We spent thousands on trainers and specialists. He was vicious, a resource guarder, bit all of us at some point. Had to be kept separate from the children and we couldn’t have guests in the home. He was an escape artist, a barker. He ended up on Valium from the vet as was so neurotic. We had him put to sleep when he was 5 years old. He broke my spirit and I didn’t get another dog for ten years. We keep hounds now.

Ours is 12. Corgi/fox cross
Follows DH everywhere, barks at the door or people in the garden. Very loving, bit crazy! Wouldn't be without him

In short- yes.

My family has always had dogs but the worst one in terms if behaviour, barking and generally being a PITA was the fox terrier. In second place was a spaniel. All the others were normal, well behaved and all-round great dogs- labradors, Staffies and Bitzers (bits of this and bits of that)

I don’t have one but have a terrier and had a terrier cross. I know a few. They are extremely challenging dogs. Very hard to motivate and very hard headed.

Terriers can make really good family pets if you buy or rescue sensibly and pick your breed. They’re very biddable BUT not all of them. Westies, cairns, borders and staffies as well as some Jack Russells are those I’ve had experience with as an agility trainer as being really lovely pets but you still have to think terrier.

I know someone with one and it’s a lovely temperament most of the time…. Training hahahahahah
Took forever to toilet train, has a chase drive to rival a sighthound, he’s 7 now they’ve never managed to stop him jumping up so they don’t see their young family members with the dog as he flattened the grandchildren a few times (so grandchildren won’t come to their house). They are bred to be tenacious hunters, so understandably aren’t always perfect pets

Yes you would be mad. They are a handful to say the least. If you have never owned a terrier and are new to dogs then do not get one, you'll be overwhelmed. That's why you don't see many of them.

I'm a lifelong staffy owner, as terriers go they're very biddable and easy to train and incredibly loving, if you keep them in shape will hike for miles.

If you want a Terrier go for a Border, Norfolk or Norwich.

Stay far away from Fox and Welsh. These are NOT beginner terriers. I bred Welsh and Lakeland's for many years. I'm very experienced and wouldn't go there again .

We had a similar experience to @HashBrownandBeans, really aggressive, didn't respond to behavioural training and had to be rehomed . Heartbreaking

I know a few, but have a Patterdale, currently. It is no co incidence that I have said I will never own another terrier once she's gone.

If you've never had terriers before - they are a dog-world apart. And I'm not sure that the word 'biddable' could be applied to many of them!

Patterdales are very terrier. I know lots of really biddable terriers but they tend to be borders, cairns, westies and staffies. JRT are ok if you choose the breed lines carefully. They’re also easy to train. Go to any agility show or rally or even obedience and you’ll find really well trained and happy terriers who get on well with other dogs (because they have to).

I would not recommend a patterdale to anything other than a working home. They are not pets.

Good job I work her then, eh!

I agree about Cairns and Borders, but there are a few 'terrier' traits that seem common - recall being variable, high prey drive - amongst most breeds, which is why I would never advise a terrier of any kind to a first time owner.

Absolutely brilliant dogs, but one whiff of something furry running by and they're in the next county.

They are undoubtedly terriers with the traits. My last dog was a terrier hound cross (rescue) and her prey drive was higher than my border pups so far by a long way.

I often see borders recommended as good first dogs. They can be but you do need to know what they were bred for. Ours is really really clever and can run rings around you if you let her. Mum is working and dad a Ch show dog. I wanted and needed the spark of a working line for agility and training but didn’t want too much working 😂

Ours has excellent recall but we’ve trained a check in from 9 weeks and not relied on conventional training. Yesterday she saw a squirrel, turned and looked at us to which she got a HUGE Yessssss good girlllll and came flying back. We do lots of games based training and she attends classes with trainers who understand how she thinks abd being really food motivated means she is easy to train.

I’m a massive terrier advocate and love them but you do need your head screwed on. I see lots who really struggle as they’re huge dogs in small bodies.

I didn't word my op well, I am not new to dogs, have owned for years, done agility etc, but have gone for biddable sorts. Looks like it's a resounding 'no' then - thanks all.

Didn't mean to quote @Newpeep .

I know a couple of wire haired fox terriers and they are lovely , although both owned by very elderly people who don’t let them off lead so I can’t comment on recall . I will say that I have a patterdale x , who looks patterdale and he’s an absolute pleasure and always has been , friendly , obedient aside from being a bit stubborn and very loving .

You’d struggle in agility. I used to know one who ran in my dogs height and grade in comps. He was a swine. Absolute swine. I never saw him get a clear round - he either bogged off mid course or went to have a pop at a dog in the queue. He bit his owner multiple times. Now he’d not be allowed to compete but things were different then.

My family have always had FTs. All of them (wire and smooth) have been good with humans inc children and easily house trained. I'm thinking of getting another since my last was PTS a year ago. However (1) one of the five was not good with other dogs esp smaller ones (2) recall needed to be started ASAP with all of them (3) like all terriers they are hunters and diggers, so you need to fence well.

The FT has gone from being the most popular dog in GB in the early 20C to one of the rarer types. So unfortunately there's some interbreeding now some of which is inadvisable. They are very popular in Europe and parts of the States, so I'd be looking for a cross there.

All of ours were dedicated to their family and liked people. I've gone for smooths - very elegant dogs - but some of my family have chosen wire for the non allergenic concept, but that needs more care. And they all loved swimming in seas or rivers for some reason.

I have a 10 month old WFT so thick in the middle of him being a teenager.
He is super smart (the words of out trainer) but his recall is not great atm so working on that.
He is incredibly friendly and sociably, stubborn, loving and full of character.
He is my second foxy, I personally love them as a breed.

We got a female fox terrier when she was 4mo and she never fully bonded with us. All training had to be motivated with food and the only time she sought us out was if there was a thunderstorm. It was like living with a flatmate, not a pet!
She was good with children and adored DS but hated cyclists. We think it was the frequency of the spokes as they were spinning, but if she saw a cyclist and we didn’t catch her in time, she’d be off like a shot to chase them, barking and growling on our side of the fence.

We now have a mini schnauzer. The aesthetic is similar but the character difference is like night and day…

You put your dog to death because you couldn’t handle him?
why didn’t you give him up instead? Clearly he belonged on a farm as a working dog.

My parents loved wire haired foxes so we had a few as a kid. Never liked them to be honest - not a fan of a terrier breeds really. I have hounds myself and adore them.

@Sarahtm35 Maybe the poster or her vet thought the biting everyone might be a problem for others?

Yes agree… there aren’t a queue of farmers looking for bite risk terriers to work…

Biddable ? Hahahahaha. No.
Very much not biddable , recall notoriously terrible. Basically they do what they want.
Other things to note are that they are miserable left alone as they tend to be very strongly bonded to one person.
I have decades of experience and I think they are not an ideal dog for someone with no prior experience of terriers, the cute teddy bear appearance belies their huge characters.