It’s only been about two months since we lost Boomer, and we weren’t thinking about adopting another dog until summer. But friends of my daughter have rescued a Jack Russell terrier from an elderly couple who can’t keep her, and the friends can’t keep her either – they have three large dogs and they’re not accepting the newbie.
All I’ve been told is that the dog is female, six months old, and she’s crate-trained and housebroken. I haven’t met her yet.
So I’m looking for advice and your experience with this kind of dog, especially how they are with cats. We have two older cats. They got along fine with Boomer (he came later) after a few days of hissing and one scratch on the nose from our cranky cat (who incidentally has mellowed considerably).
We’re both in our 60’s and (especially in the winter), a dog wouldn’t get a lot of outdoor exercise. Our yard isn’t fenced but it’s big and right next to farmland (acres of alfalfa). The dog would be on a leash when he’s outside, but we’d never tie a dog up and leave him alone outside. (I never understood people who do that.)
So basically, a dog living with us would get lots of petting and cuddling, rides in the car, and a bit of outdoor exercise (walking), but would be indoors 90% of the time. (But not alone – one of is home almost all the time.)
Does this sound like a good match to you? I don’t want to adopt a dog who’s not going to be happy here.
This sounds like a nightmare match, quite frankly.
Jack Russells are a handful even for people who like to “work” their terriers. They are extremely high energy, possess an intense prey drive, and tend to lose their goshdarn minds when not given significant running and exploring time outdoors. These are dogs that climb trees (yes, really) and crawl into groundhog holes. (And should they meet a groundhog, they’ll drag it out by the throat.) I’ve heard many owners describe them as “too smart for their own good.”
And while I’ve heard of some that were socialized to accept cats, most I’ve known kill cats. Not “chase cats”, but kill cats.
Now, I don’t mean to slur the breed-- they can be tremendous fun with their energy and intelligence given the right owner. There is a reason they appear so often in movies and tv spots: they love to be taught things, and are very eager to please a handler that has their confidence. And they are darn cute. But they’re definitely, in my experience, a dog for people who don’t want so much a pet as a full time, intense dog-owning hobby.
Quoted for truth. There is a reason JRT enthusiasts refer to the little beggars as “Jack Russell terrorists.”
They are insanely high energy dogs, right up into their dotage. You gotta run their little asses off, and give them something to stimulate them mentally, or they’re absolute holy terrors. Just like children, if they don’t have anything constructive to do with all that physical and mental energy, they’ll find something destructive to do with it. It doesn’t sound like you guys want to put in that kind of work, and you and the dog would both be miserable.
As has been mentioned recently on another thread, the ONLY way JRTs do not become an unholy menace is if they get enough exercise that they fall down exhausted each day. A little light walkies and an indoor life DO NOT work for JRTs. They also have insane prey drives, and will chase a cat like nobody’s business (but only if the cat runs. If the cat learns to stand its ground, they can live in harmony).
What’s with this databse error crap? Been trying to post for what seems like 10 minutes…
Hate to be more of the same opinion, sounds like you’re thinking of doing a good thing, giving a homeless dog a chance, but a quiet lifestyle will not abide for a JRT.
They can be funny and delightful, but like every hunting dog breed, they need outside time to run off their steam. If you were inclined to take intensive training courses, make him a working dog by doing indoor things like agility classes and contests, good citizen training and being a therapy dog, those would certainly be great ways for you guys to get out of the house with minimal cash outflow or actual outside time. But those would have to be things you could commit to for the dog’s life, any slacking in daily training, trips to a training facility a few times a week, and hospital/nursing home visits and such, and you would all be miserable.
I’ve had my JRT for over seven years and she gets along fine with any other pets (dogs, cats, parrots) that I’ve introduced into the home. She would be anxious at first, but after a day or two she would adjust and accept them. She does need a lot of outdoor time, and she chases off any birds or cats that stray into the yard.
Has anyone ever heard that if you put two Jack Russell Terriers in the same room together and leave them alone they might fight to the death? That they never back down, and are really vicious beasts in a 20 lb. package?
That’s not true in my experience. Our neighbors had up to five of the beasts at any one time and they got along as a big, friendly pack. It probably helped that they were mostly outside dogs with the run of the neighborhood.
As for their prey drive, well, I never heard about them killing cats but you couldn’t find a rat or rabbit for ten blocks.
I agree with Sebastienne’s “nightmare match” assessment because of the exercise issue. My female JRT is outdoors pretty much all day, enjoying the run of the 150’ by 150’ section of our yard enclosed by an invisible fence. She runs herself to near-exhaustion every day, and kills any squirrel, chipmunk or mole that dares step into her domain. One morning I saw a full-grown coyote run through my side yard, followed closely by my terrier in full pursuit.
My dog chases outdoor cats, but she ignores our indoor cat. There’s some sort of truce in effect there, I think.
I currently have a pack of 7 JRTs, they nip at each other sometimes but after 5 years we’ve had no death matches. They have also spent time with other dogs at parks and pet hotels and have never gotten into trouble.
It sounds like the OP has already made the right decision. But for the benefit of anybody who searches this thread later, I’ll just add that they bark. I mean BARK. They bark a lot. JRTs are the barkingest barking barkers I’ve ever met. They bark constantly. A friend has one who will actually bark with his mouth full while he eats.
O.M.G. do they bark! ! !
They are also great fun, loving and loyal, cute as a button, and especially suited to someone who likes to train a dog to do tricks. If you’ve always wanted to do agility training but don’t want to risk a cattle dog’s nipping, the JRT is the right breed for you.
Jack Russells are working dogs. They’ve been bred to keep a farm clear of vermin and they -love- their job. Sometimes people use them for organized rat fighting (ie - put one dog in a ring and throw rats in for it to kill until the dog gets swarmed for “entertainment”).
But JRTs are not vicious dogs. They aren’t bred to be aggressive to humans or other dogs. JRTs can be territorial, like all dogs, but that’s something that can be worked through by carefully introducing them to the newcomer. It’s not uncommon for farmers to keep a pair of JRTs to work together, along with a barn cat or two. They can work in a pack just fine. Most JRT owners will tell you that having a couple of them so they can play together is a huge plus.
In short, JRTs are not attack dogs provided you aren’t a rodent.
My 3-year-old JRT Sammy is curled up beside me right now, dreaming of mice. He’s the sweetest, friendliest, happiest dog and a serious snuggle puppy. His nature is definitely quieter than that of many JRTs, although he needs a fair amount of outdoor romping time every day. He is a self-taught soccer player and it’s a treat to see him tearing around the garden with the ball under complete control with his nose. When we visit friends with a large yard and he plays soccer with the kids, he passes the ball back and forth with them just as well as the kids do.
We had a guinea pig for his first 2 years and I was always concerned that he would figure out how to open my son’s door and attack the piggie. He learned that the room was off limits, but he never stopped being aware that there was prey in there.
JRTs do have an intense hunting instinct, and it can’t be trained out of them. Sammy listens well to us, but if he sees a bird or a squirrel , we cease to exist for a time. Another thing – as far as training goes, Jack Russells are highly intelligent and learn quickly, but they have strong opinions of their own, and may very well decide that while they perfectly well understand what you want them to do, they don’t see the necessity.
Sammy’s biggest issue is that he needs his family around most of the time. He’s okay with being alone for several hours, but if we’re gone longer than 4 hours, he’s completely stirred up when we return.
A co-worker has a JRT, but he says “he’s the short-legged JRT type, and he is VERY calm.” He claims that the “long-legged” version is a holy terror, but the short-legged version are mellow.
He occasionally brings the dog to work, and it IS probably the calmest dog I’ve seen. The dog is perfectly happy curled up on a blanket in the corner for hours. The most he’ll do is calmly saunter over to a nearby person and slowly plop over on to his back so you can rub his tummy.
I don’t really know if there really are 2 different JRT versions or not. I’m just reporting what he told me.
