Your thoughts on this so called 'new' JRT Controversial

I have been seing more and more of these 'pocket sized' and 'teacup' JRT's around these days, pups for sale usually have the caption perfect for the poachers pocket.
Perfectlly pocket sized they may be, but at such a small size of below 10 inches, could they really perform the task they were bred for, to work with vermin?
ive seenn jacks who are hardly big enough to tackle a house mouse never mind a fox in the days when it was permitted.
Now my Polly is a small jack, she is very irish type, but shes a perfect bushing terrier nice and sprightly, she measures around 12 inches
So what do you terrier enthusiasts out there think of these mini jacks?
Creating a new strain in a breed, or just messing up one of the ultimate terriers?


personally i think its the latter, they are destroying the classic terrier i hold so close to my heart. More and more people are wanting mini versions of everything, the JRT is a nice sized dog why make it so tiny it cant do the primary function of its original purpose, these are just my thoughts, and i want to hear yours.......

Chances are, someone who wants a handbag size dog will not be ready for a terrier's temperament.

I hope the little JRTs get their revenge and manage to nip some ankles

my thoughts exactly tuti, why are Jacks being bred to be like a toy dog, they aint one they are a terrier through and through, and are well known for being one of, if not the ultimate working terrier. They are a breed alone, why are they being tampered with so? i dont get why

Cos people are stupid

good diagnosis lol

may i just add they dont really look like JRT's either, more chiuaha'sih

The original Jack Russell was not a small dog, in fact they were bigger than Borders! They had a racy appearance, and the Parsons today are practically identical to those originally bred.

Personally I havent seen a smaller type JRT work Foxes, only Rats, at which they were very capable, I believe a Terrier needs at least to match its quarry weight to do a fast efficient job, otherwise they stand a chance of much injury which is not practical or helpful to anyone!

So really the smaller the JRT the worse its going to be, of course these dogs are not being bred to work, just to supply a pet market, which makes it worse, destroying a breed for financial gain.
Dawn.

good post Dawn, and so very true. They allways seem so unhappy, they are treated like lap dogs and they are so obviouslly terrier just made by humans to be no bigger than a rat themselves!!!

I dunno about that Luke :? My two seem quite happy being 'lap dogs' and not working dogs

now i dont mean just pets Tuti, i mean like carried around in bags and dressed up and things, when all they seem to want is a good ramble in a field somewhere, im not on about working im on about living!

Hi Tuti.
What do you class as a lap dog? A dog that sits on your lap? or one that is pampered, molly coddled, babyed and kept in such an artificial world?

In another thread you are asking for suggestions as a working replacement, that to me sounds like you have a normal active dog that is full of life and energy, and who's owner is doing her utmost to keep the dog mentally and physically contented, not a lap dog. Maybe we see lap dogs as different things.
Dawn,

Yep Dawn my lap dogs are pampered and sit on my lap, they wear coats if they get cold but at the end of the day they are very much dogs and enjoy nothing more than a run in the park and a wade in a filthy puddle LOL. So I suppose they are different from Paris Hilton's lapdog LOL.

BTW Luke was not trying to get at you was sort of half joking

I met a woman recently with WFTs.... I was carrying Archie and he was snuggled into my shoulder. This lady is well known if WFT circles and told me I was raising him to be spoilt and to get exactly what he wanted.

Funnily enough my 10 month old pup was better behaved than any of her older dogs which were also present She soon realised this and stopped criticizing the way I raised my dog

I thought Archie had a good coat? He looks like he has in the pictures.
Dawn.

Yep he does but it seems he gets very cold as he shivers a bit and his ears and paws feel very cold. It is freeeezing to be fair though.

I haven't stripped him in a couple of weeks so hopefully that should help him ward off the cold.

Also the little one gets very very cold as his belly is so low to the ground.

Indeed they are, when i say lapdog Tuti, i mean dogs in bags, and shoes, and dyed different colours, with there claws painted and stuff, IMO thats wrong for any dog, but a JRT especially, i mean Polly goes nuts if she doesnt get an offlead ramble/swim/ and run through every bush and hedge when we are on walkies, so i cant see how people breeding these so called mini JRT's can say they are totally fullfilled.
A little curious would we all say how since these 'new' JRT's have come about, everytime we drop blanketts and things off at our local shelters, they have a lot of titchum JRT's, more Jacks than ive ever seen before. It seems people are taking them on thinking they will be little docile toy dogs, without thinking they still very much are a tenacious terrier!!

fair enough Luke

Last night people looked at us funny in the pub cos I had brought a little blanket for the dogs to lie on and 2 rawhide chews LOL. We were the mad dog women in the corner LOL

Still my dogs are happy and loved So who cares. Some people might see them as spoiled and mollycoddled but at the end of the day, both dogs sit instead of mauling them when I give them their food of a biscuit, and they're happy to curl up on the floor in the pub while we have steak for dinner (Knowing that they will get a scrap after we finish!)

I know this old topic but I have to say I am not very fond at all of the teacup JRTs. Why make a dog that thinks it's a working terrier into a handbag accessory? No idea.
My Parson JRT is by no means a small terrier, though she is small compared with my sisters Parson, and all I get all the time is "is it a JR X?" No, it's a working Parson russell, just everyone expects now that JRT are these tiny toy dogs, pocket sized, that couldn't rat because rats are bigger. Nothing against short legged JTRs, just hate these mini things that are for showing off with.. Buy a fancy pair if shoes, and lets the dogs be dogs. LOL

this is slightly off to what you are all taking about, anyway a few years ago i was out walking with my dog Penny when the smallest jrt came trotting of his gate and along the track. He didn't know he was only small, he cud of been 6 foot in his eyes He was the proudest little dog i'v ever seen, he was lovely, he trotted along with us for a while, then turned round and trotted back home on his little bandy legs.

i wish it had been the days of photo taking mobiles!!

To be quite honest i dont know how they manage to paint the claws, my 2 JRT's hate their paws being held(nail cutting etc) and go mad and try and bite you so you'll get off, i have been told by several people that this is how most terriers are that they dont like their paws being held. But anyway. Back on the subject i think its horrible, i read in a dog magazine last night that all this cross breeding started out with celebs, and they are now worried it is going to get out of hane as they think they will get up to £1000 a pup for x's like labradoodle etc, a dog is not a fashion accessory it is a living being that deserves all the love and affection they can get and also dont deserve to be messed up like that. Are the people who start these "trends" actually think about the health disorders the end result could have? i dont think so i think they are all just in it for the money. Sorry for the rant, but i feel very strongly about these issues. love rachxx