Jack Russell Terrier | Dog Breed Information & Facts – Pictures

Last Updated on August 7, 2023 by Pets Feed

The Jack Russell Terrier is one of the best known dog breeds in the world due to its characteristics and personality. Its origin is in the United Kingdom, although its development was based on the standard established by an Australian work club. It is an excellent hunting companion for hunting enthusiasts, is intelligent, cunning and fast.

Jack Russell Terrier – energetic, cheerful, active! Thanks to his cute, amusing appearance, Jack Russell is a frequent guest of television screens, which only the famous films “The Mask” and “The Artist” are worth!

The Jack Russell Terrier is a small but sturdy dog. The height at the withers is 25-35 cm. There are no strict weight standards, however, experts note that the Jack Russell Terrier looks harmonious, which has 1 kg of weight per 5 cm of growth, i.e. the desired mass of an adult representative of this breed is 5-8 kg.

• Head: The head is quite large. The transition from forehead to muzzle is smooth. The skull is quite wide, tapering upwards. On the muzzle there is a small beard and a neat mustache.
• Jaws: The dog’s jaws are strong. Powerful teeth. Scissor bite.
• Ears: The ears are triangular in shape, the tips are forward. The ear cups are pressed firmly against the head.
• Eyes: Oval-shaped eyes. Tight enough deep. Dark iris color
• Frame: The chest is quite broad, reaching the elbows deep. The belly is well proportioned. The back is straight and strong. The kidney is convex with a flat top.
• Limbs: The front legs are straight and parallel. The knee joints are clearly visible on the hind limbs. During the jump, the dog takes the main load on the hind limbs, so they are much stronger than the front ones.
• Coat: Jack Russell Terriers are allowed three coat types: hard, smooth, and medium hard. The main indicator of purebred dogs is the presence of colored spots. Monochromatic white or brownish colors are unacceptable. This breed has a short, smooth undercoat.

In the Jack Russell Terriers, a real hurricane is revealed. Dogs cannot sit in one place for a minute, they will constantly attract the attention of the owner. Representatives of the breed know well how to behave in a house or apartment, but they can deliberately do harm in order to attract a person’s attention.

Representatives of the breed clearly understand where their own is and where a stranger is. Despite its small size, the dog is always ready to rush to the defense of the owner. Russell Terriers never bark for no reason. But if you’re not careful enough and the dog gets bored, especially if he lives in an apartment, he may bark incessantly, trying to get attention.

The most common health issues in jack russell dogs are:

• Ataxia and basal myelopathy. Being a direct descendant of the Fox Terrier, Jack Russell Terrier can suffer from hereditary ataxia or myelopathy of the nervous system. They can develop during the first months of life and after reaching old age, the main symptoms being a lack of coordination, difficulty walking and even standing.
• Patellar dislocation. It occurs when the kneecap, the bone located just in front of the knee joint, moves, causing pain in the animal and, consequently, difficulty in walking. It can be a hereditary disease or a trauma.
• Dislocation of the lens. This happens when the lens is not attached to the eye through the zonular fibers and, therefore, moves and moves from its natural position. This dislocation can be inherited or caused by other eye problems, such as glaucoma or cataracts.
• Deafness Problems with the jack russell hearing system are often closely linked to ataxia, although they can also appear in isolation due to age.

The Jack Russell Terrier has a short coat and therefore hardly needs combing – this should be done once a week and that’s enough. You need to trim the nails three times a month, keep the ears and eyes clean, and bathe the dog 1-2 times a month.

• The white fur of Jack Russell is due to the need for former hunters to have an animal that could easily be distinguished from foxes during hunting.
• Jack Russell’s muscles are so powerful that he can jump up to 5 times his own height.
• It is easy to confuse the Jack Russell terrier with the Parson Russell terrier, and in many cases the dividing lines between the two are blurred. However, the second is a slightly larger dog than the first, which also does not have such short legs.
• Although they may have spots of different shades, all copies of Jack Russell must have more than half of their body in pure white, whether the coat is hard or smooth.

Although the standard is currently set, there are many differences of opinion on the physical appearance of the Jack Russell Terrier. This is precisely due to its origin, full of crosses between different types of burrows that were not looking for specific characteristics, but rather to improve the ability to hunt new specimens.

The mother of the breed as it is known today is believed to be a female named Trump, who belonged to the Reverend John Russell, from whom the entire breed takes its name. This man, born in England, was a pastor in the parish of Swybridge for a long time and always shared his life with a terrier dog because of his taste for hunting. His love for burrows and his taste for fox hunting led him to breed Trump puppies, which he crossed with males of different types and colors. From this breeding comes precisely the Jack Russell terrier, as well as another very similar canine variety but of slightly larger size: the Parson Russell terrier.

Over time, the descendants of this first female arrived in Australia, where they went through a process of breeding and improving the breed until they reached the current standard. However, it was not until 1972 that the Jack Russell Club of Australia appeared, and it was not until 2000 that the FCI recognized the breed according to the Australian standard.

Today, Jack Russell Terrier is one of the best known and most numerous breeds in the world. However, there are some countries where it is particularly popular, including England, the United States and Australia. In addition, it is one of the majority breeds in Germany and the Netherlands, where there are specific clubs for this breed of dogs. It is also in the Scandinavian countries and in South Africa, where more than two thousand copies have been recorded in the genealogical book of origins. Likewise, in other countries, the Jack Russell continues to gain popularity.