Re: is a jack russell right for me?

In Reply to: is a jack russell right for me?
Category:   Terrier Trial
Posted by:  andrew krems
Posted on:  August 31, 2002 at 16:55:41

: i am looking at a jack russell becuase i want a small intelligent dog with lots of energy an the jack russell seemed perfect. i was running your profiler and it showed everything was ok for me to get a jack except that i would be gone 5-8 hours a day. I am a teenager and both parents work so on weekdays no one would be home. is this enough of a problem to not get a jack russell? if there is a way around it what should i do?

: thank your for the help,
: Andrew

Response:

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for doing your homework before getting your dog, you are starting off on the right track!

There are several things to consider when getting not only a JRT but any dog.

1) If you and your family have a busy lifestyle with both parents working, and nobody home all day long, I would recommend getting an older dog other than a puppy. Puppies require LOTS of care and attention, just like a human baby does. You wouldn't leave a human baby home alone for 8 hours and expect that baby to be okay. Same really goes for a puppy. Small pups just can't hold their bladders and bowels for very long, without someone there to take them out regularly during the day, it just makes the housebreaking process all that more difficult and longer.

Getting an older terrier should help greatly in that department, many or most are already housebroken, can hold their bladders and bowels for much longer. Also many of these are in desperate need of a new home, everybody loves a puppy, many are just lukewarm towards an adult. This is why we need people who will adopt our terriers that are no longer puppies. I adopted one that was 1½ years old and it was one of the best things I have ever done and don't regret for one minute that I didn't get another puppy like I did with my first terrier.

So, please keep that in mind, an older terrier might be a better match for your household.

2) You mentioned you are a teenager, nothing wrong with that :) but you must also consider that a dog is a 15 year commitment, sometimes even longer. What will happen to your terrier once you are out of high school? Will you be going on to college? And if so are your parents willing to care for your dog? It's one thing for you to want a lively, smart, high energy dog...as long as you are there to take care of it. Your parents might not want to deal with such a high maintenance breed.

Trust me when I say that they pretty much stay high maintenance most of their lives. My two are 8 and going on 7 respectively, I just had one go into emergency surgery on Friday to pull a peach pit out of him. You would think at his age he wouldn't be doing such puppy kind of stuff, they do and will for all of their lives as long as they aren't infirm lol! I watch my two like a hawk and even then you just don't know what they can get into when your back is turned.

Ask yourself if this is something your parents would want to have to deal with.

If you can answer positively to these things then maybe a JRT might be the right choice.