Potential Jack Russell Owner.....

[nikroc]

I had a female patterdale for 10 yrs till 10 months ago. Had to have her euthanised,she had cancer and heart failure.
Got her from a rescue centre when she was thought to be 4 .

Fantastic dog. She'd run for hours chasing whatever i could throw and return it for more..she would come n sit by my side when i was working on cars n wander around quite happily bringing me stones to throw .She loved licking n chewing stones.When i got her she had worn her front teeth down!!

She was a constant fishing companion,would sit at my feet all day long.

Brilliant with my three kids from day one,they were 1,4 and 6 at the time.

Would walk by my side off lead wherever ii went,no problems.

And she took absolutly NO ****e from any other dog,no matter what size it was or how old n frail she got.

And YES i definatly miss her. Would i have another?..only ever gonna be one TESS but id def recommend them.

[Big-Pete]

We had three of them, only got two now as we lost one last year, they are superb dogs, so funny and have a character of their own.. Lots of people are scared of them..

I hated the idea of getting a Jack Russel, but no regrets now

[MAF 3.2 V6 GSi]

My mum had a jack Russell for 17 years, we lost her last year

Lovely dog, a bit snappy but full of character, I miss her loads

[Jezzy]

My neighbour's got one... freaking PITA. It peers through the gaps in the 6 foot fence between our gardens and everytime it sees me or my gf in our garden it attacks the fence and growls and snarls. For a couple of days I thought it just didn't like the two of us, until a courier making a delivery to my house mentioned what an awful dog my neighbours had. That made me feel better. lol.

[Grumpy1954]

Erm, I think you will find there are long haired and short haired versions, my grandparents had both. Neither was ever clipped

I think what you're describing is the rough/wire coat and smooth coat variations

[Scalesy]

We had a Jack/Border cross who was a little darling until she tried to argue with a train! Got 2 borders and they are fantastic.

Getting a cross is no bad thing (unless they have a stupid name and therefore cost silly money) tends to dilute any bad points in purebreds.

[Jezzy]

We had a Jack/Border cross who was a little darling until she tried to argue with a train!

What was the argument about?

[SignumPhil]

They're tough as old boots, but have a very strong personality. Be prepared for some training "issues". They make our Tibetan Terrier (reputedly one of the stubbornest breeds there are) look easy going!
We used to have a deaf 19-year old one that came to our training classes with his owner's two border collies, because he hated being left at home. He would join in the exercises, and I can still hear his owner bellowing "SIT!!! ,in the hope he'd be heard

Phil

[macdad]

Thank you for all the great replies,but now having looked further into owning a JR , it seems a little daunting as we are not all that experienced in dog ownership,in fact we are complete novices. So, with this in mind,we are leaning towards the Paterdale Terrier instead because they seem a bit more placid.

Please keep your comments coming in,as we have found them very helpful.

[Jezzy]

Take small steps at first - try a goldfish initially, then perhaps a budgie, and later on a cat.