it's true, I officially hate Jack Russells! While out walking with Juno this morning along the voie verte I noticed a jogger approaching us from behind with his dog. Juno was on her long lead so I just shortened the lead in preparation of them passing but still had a loose lead. As the dog approached us it started lunging and snarling at Juno, and I must admit I was quite impressed with my girl, Juno just looked at me and sat down next to me and waited for the dog to pass. Once the dog was past us we just continued calmly on our walk even with another jogger passing us at the same time. We did have the misfortune to see the dog again as we returned to the car but luckily they continued on the path under the underpass. What is it about Jack Russells? Do their owners not train them at all or is it just their character?
Jack Russels like all terriers are very lively dogs, most of the people here in Italy own them because of the film The mask, obviously you shouldn't take a dog like that, without knowning all his charateristic. Jack Russels may be small but they're very hard because they need to exercise a lot (they're terriers after all) so it was mostly his character plus maybe and i say maybe again a lack of discipline given by the owner
There are people on the forum that own JRTs, Rosemary - I'm sure you mean you hate dogs that lunge and snarl. It does seem to be the case though that a number of small dogs seem quite reactive (Charlie stays away from west highland terriers*, for example). I am not sure why this is the case. Perhaps because owners of small dogs don't pay as much attention to these things as owners of larger dogs (thinking, mistakenly, that small dogs aren't intimidating), or maybe small dogs get a rough time in some way. Not sure.... * that's not completely true - he knows one WHT that he absolutely adores
I have to admit we are 50:50 on small dogs in general, not just terrier types. I too am maybe generalising, but I blame the owners. I always imagine small dogs that I see lunging on the end of their leads being replaced by a bigger dog (a lab or GSD or Newfie) and the fun of them being dragged down the road at the end of the lead. We have lots of terriers around us that are just fine. Lilly is fine with most dogs, but some of them she is reactive to, just like Charlie. Training, Training, Training in my honest opinion.
I used to be a bit anti JRTs after one of our family dogs was attacked by one - it had him by the throat in a vice-like grip and I was terrified it was going to kill him. I was about 16 years of age and around 6 stone, but I manhandled the terrier off him and picked our chunky GSDxBC up off the ground to keep it away from the little . After that, I joined the "I hate JRTs" brigade. Until, many years later, I met two, in different households, that had been treated like real dogs and trained, just a little. They were the sweetest, most loveable little rascals I'd ever met and I very nearly ended up buying one. There is no doubt that the others are right; small dogs are often allowed to get away with things you wouldn't dream of with a larger dog, and that can make them antisocial and rude. It can be hard not to tar them all with the same brush, but try to look beyond the breed, because there are responsible owners out there who bring up happy, well-adjusted and sociable dogs of every type. I'm glad that Juno was unfazed by it - good girl!
I know that fundamentally it's not the dog, it's the owner and lack of training. Although every dog that has snarled, growled or lunged at Juno has been a JRT . I guess I'm lucky that Juno hasn't taken a dislike to them or has started lunging for them first. As a child a cousin and her husband had 2 JRTs while we had a Labrador and never had a problem with them. In fact the dogs used to go crazy to get out of the car to get to our girl to say hello as they absolutely adored her , which one day led to them becoming wedged in the car windows as they tried to get out (before electric windows had been invented ).
I own a senior JRT (now 13) and can attest that as a terrier breed they have their moments. We trained ours, socialized right from a pup and for two years she was great, but around two something snapped so to speak and she started being very reactive toward other dogs on her leash. We did our research on the breed and hoped with "proper" or "better" training we would avoid this trait. We continued and still continue to work with her with little success on this issue. She is a good and extremely intelligent well behaved dog otherwise and we are very good owners, however I have had many trainers tell me with the terriers, namely JRT 's that it is often inevitable that they become ugly on their leashes around 2, even with training. In addition we now have a 7 month chocolate lab and she plays rough with him as all JRT's do,lots of growling and "nice" biting, lol. People probably think she is killing him. I wouldn't own a JRT again, but we have loved ours immensely..smartest dog I have ever known.
That is really interesting, Lisa. One thing that I notice about small dogs on leads (and I'm not for one minute suggesting you do this) is that it is so easy for the human to nearly pull them off their feet. For example, I saw a lady with a tiny lapdog walking down the street on Friday, the dog stopped to sniff at something but the lady kept walking (I don't think she was looking at what her dog was doing). Just the tug as the lead went tight and she took another step was quite a pull on that little dog who was dragged forward. If that had been Charlie, it would have been me that came to the sudden halt and he wouldn't have moved. It did make me wonder if there is something in my thought that small dogs have a rougher time of it for various reasons.....
Interesting comments Lisa . Its a contentious subject for me as I have owned and adored terriers ( mainly JRT`s) for all my 67 years, my first puppy being a JRT when I was about 8 years old . I haven't ever come across the issue of 2 years of age becoming a difficult one re the lead , maybe its just that as long living dogs , they hit the teenage stage at around 2 ? Terriers are not for the faint hearted because on the whole, they are stubborn, wilful little devils and need training , lots of it too . However , in the right hands ( as is the case with all breeds ) they are faithful, loyal and loving dogs . I really don't like it when people generalise about certain breeds , its not the dog, its the owner in almost every case , who allow the dog to behave how they " think " the breed should behave , like the morons who encourage their bull breeds to become aggressive by taunting them with other dogs .
Ehehe as i stated in my post above , you confirmed this Kate! They are lively, little rascals indeed! But they're so adorable
Great point JulieT, since we got Chocolate Charlie I can't believe how small our JRT seems now. I never noticed it before because she is so mighty and acts every bit the big dog. When I walk her now it seems so different, if she pulls on the leash I barely notice. I think I could easy pull her to hard, lol. Kate, yes indeed they are lively little rascals! We love our JRT named JJ to bits, she has been an exceptional dog and plays well with our new addition Chocolate Charlie. At 13 she is still going strong. Oddly enough when she walks with Charlie she doesn't react to other dogs at all. 13 years of trying to fix her one problem and it took a big dopey lab pup, lol.
We've had a few doing Flyball over the years. They can bring their own training challenges, as they're independent thinkers but they're top little dogs. Can't say I've noticed any particular behavioural issues in small dogs compared to large dogs if one looks at it objectively. When out and about we don't experience barking and lunging from small dogs as a rule. Nowhere near as much as from medium to large dogs. Obi likes small dogs very much and I'd bet my house that he'd rather walk into a room packed full of small dogs than a room with half a dozen large dogs.
Yes, there is an interesting article here: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/living-small-dogs About some of the challenges small dogs face and why "Many small dogs do bark a lot, and a number of small breeds seem prone to aggression problems." Listed are reasons such as: it's easier to manipulate a small dog so they can feel pushed around, picking it up can bring it closer to people than it's comfortable with, they are more prone to being hurt by other dogs and people...and so on. I reckon there is something in that.
