There are actually two forms of Jack Russell. The Parson Russell Terrier(Used to be Parson Jack Russell Terrier) is a much taller, slimmer dog. This is the dog recognized by the AKC. The Jack Russell(no parson) has much shorter legs. They’re not recognized by the AKC, and the Jack Russell Club of America is campaigning to keep it that way.
-Lil
Hi-
Jack Russells were recognized but they changed the AKC name to Parson Russell Terrier. I’m not sure if the original working club forced them to change the name (something I wish we could dog with the Border Collie) or if the AKC parent club chose to use a different name.
We have a large, beautiful, friendly dog named Fozzie Bear. He is half Golden Retriever and half Great Pyrenees. We’ve been asked so many times “what breed of dog is he?” that we finally started telling people that he’s a Golden Pyrenees.
As I understand it, many all white animals are subject to various problems, including deafness. It’s a problem in my breed (Australian Shepherds). The Aussie standard requires that the dog have color on the ears and other parts of the face. Aussies with too much white on their heads are often deaf.
(from asca.org - asca Resources and Information., my emphasis added)
So it’s not just looks.
Speaking of the Pyrenees, my dad had a pound puppy that for the life of him looked exactly like a [a href=http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bergerdespyrenees.htm]Berger des Pyrénées[/a]. He also had a partially collapsed airway, so he had a lot of energy & enthusiasm, but lacked the equipment to actually do anything about it. Bergers (aka Pyrenean Shepherds) are probably the most “mutt-like” of the so-called AKC-recognized dogs because they’ve been bred from a large stock for hundreds of years in the Basque region. They’re the actual sheepherders; the Pyrenees Mountain Dogs are bred to guard the flock, the shepherd and the little guys actually doing all the nipping and barking.
When he died, I think my dad went a little bit nuts because he immediately called one of the only 2 breeders of Pyr Sheps (their nickname) in the US and arranged to go visit her kennel. He then adopted the most adorable girl puppy who looks an awful lot like the first picture in that link. Now mind you, I did read a very reputable article on the breed, and it warned potential owners that these are very small dogs that do very, very large sheep-herding duties. Make them a housepet, and they will make a Jack Russel Terrier look like a stoner on valium watching Larry King interview James Lipton.
Now Missy the pup does NOT have a collapsed airway. She can run; and when she is not running she is leaping from object to object with all the grace and speed of a jaguar. She can leap straight up standing still and do a 360 mid-air, no exaggeration. In a way, I consider this fortunate since my dad is in his 70’s and she single-handedly (single-pawedly?) keeps him up and active. She’s a great dog, incredibly intelligent (I love teaching her tricks; she picks them up in a matter of minutes) but is a HANDFUL. Her nickname is “Devil Dog.”
He is a beautiful dog. I never understand why some people think only pretty dogs are purebreds.
Fozzie Bear is a beautiful dog ! He looks thoroughly cuddly !
Dogos run about 10% born deaf, across the board. I think it’s something like 5% are unilaterally deaf (deaf in both ears) and 15% bilaterally deaf–however, this can be reduced with careful breeding and culling, my dog’s breeder has had only a single deaf pup in something like six litters, whereas some breeders of the sort who will breed anything with ovaries to anything with testicles will have half a litter of deaf pups.
As always, choose your breeder wisely.
oops. As might be ascertained:
Unilat = deaf in one ear
Bilat = deaf in both ears.