You can have nice things, or you can have a Jack Russell Terrier. Pick the Jack.

Fun loving, curious, relentless, each one an alpha dog, intelligent, mischievous, not an ounce of back-up in them, cuddly, loving, all true about the Jack Russell breed.

Quick History:

Parson John Russell bred a terrier for hunting that was tough and brave enough to chase foxes from their lairs, by pure harassment. As an owner and breeder, this temperament hasn’t changed. They will shoot down a groundhog hole without hesitation and evict it in seconds.

Jack’s environment

As an owner and breeder, children under ten should not have a Jack Russell in the house. Jacks play rough, especially puppies who have not learned biting control. Children don’t always know enough to lead with a chew toy, Jack puppies know that the world is their chew toy.

Jacks require exercise. They must run; ten miles a day is about right. Farms are great Jack environments. At a minimum, large, well secured back yards are okay as long as the owners walk or jog the dog a few miles twice a day.

Well secured means the Jack has twenty four hours a day to come up with an escape plan, and fails every day. They will find unbelievably complicated and impossible ways. They are more tenacious than you are vigilant. Watch them every day to see what they are working on, and prevent them from finishing their plan. One Jack tunneled under a footing inside the crawl space and escaped out front. They are smart and tenacious, do not underestimate them.

Jack’s training

They are smart enough to train well, but their attention span is short, fifteen seconds short.

House training involves taking them to an outdoor spot after they eat. For a puppy, fifteen minutes after eating should do the trick. Praise them with rubbing and patting when they accomplish their, and your, goal. If you catch them messing in the house, a sharp no! – yelp like mama dog would – followed by taking them to their spot sends the right message. Violence and nose rubbing do not work, don’t do it. Of course, puppies do not have the bladder control of an adult, so make sure the outdoor spot is accessible to the pup.

They are natural clowns, so teach tricks in a series. It is vital to teach them to come to you on command. If they do escape, you need to get them under control fast or they will run miles. Curiosity fuels their run. So teach come, stop, sit, stay, roll over, lay down, speak, don’t speak, jump, and whatever else comes to mind as a series. The fifteen second attention span serves well for multi-tasking Jacks.

The dog is intelligent enough to separate those tasks later with proper voice commands.

Jacks are great pets and companions, but they require time. Two teens or a retired couple make an excellent Jack home.