Last night was Max’s second night of training. He actually did better on walking around the store with me when he did not see any other dogs, but once the dogs began arriving he started barking all over again. He just kept going and going and would not do all the things that he has learned at home. He is doing great with the clicker training at home and he could sit and wait and all of the things that they were talking about last night, but he would not show it by looking at his behavior. I told one of the ladies there that he did not bark at home, well because he does not. He never makes a sound unless he hears something outside and she acted like she did not believe me. I could not blame her because of the way he was acting it was hard to believe it myself. There was another Jack Russell at the class as well last night and you could see that mine had never spent time around other dogs compared to that Jack Russell. It made me kind of sad to see the other dog being able to go around the other dogs without barking or snapping at them, but Max he was not having it. I am not sure but I think he was looking for some kind of attention from these actions because he would have never done this before. Like I had stated in another part of my blog he was around my mother’s dog and never did any of this.


He went on so long during the class with his barking that the trainer thought that it would be best to put a muzzle on him to calm him down and give the other dog owners a chance to hear what she was talking about. I do not like muzzles, but I thought it was in the best interest of everyone including Max. He had the muzzle on and I felt so sorry for him because he was crying the whole time, but I tried not to show it the best that I could because I did not want him to get a reaction out of me. He did start to sit once he got the muzzle on and he was listening to me a little more, but when we went for a walk around the store customers that were walking around looked at my dog like “he must be a biter.” It made me feel bad for Max because he does not bite at all, but there was nothing that I could do.

Loose Leash

Last night the thing that we were suppose to learn was how to get our dogs to walk on a loose leash. I thought that would never happen with Max. He was normally the one that was pulling me around by the leash. Last night there was a change in him though. She gave us each a section to walk down and told us to practice by ourselves on how to get our dogs to walk on a loose leash. When he was not around the other dogs he did this perfectly. I learned how to stop and let him loosen the leash himself before I started to walk with him again. The trainer even said that she saw great things from him when he was walking, but once he saw her dog, that she uses to train the other dogs he went crazy and stopped listening to me again and even found a way to start barking through the muzzle.

Needless to say I am feeling less and less confident about Max learning to be around other dogs, but we

Shall see. There are 6 more weeks of training and if he does not get along with the other dogs, then I will just feel like it was a waste of the money. Right now the only thing I can say is that I get the papers that explain what the training in tales for the night like a direction sheet, but that could have been given to me without having to find a babysitter and spend money on that and the training classes as well. I am hoping that he will come around so I can view what the trainer is showing us. Oh and because of Max’s constant barking I have no idea what we will be learning next week.

I want to point this out that this might not be for all children, but it is possible for you to own a Jack Russell and have children under the age of one in the household. It just takes a lot of training for your puppy and your child, but you can make it work.


Jack Russell’s are a dog that maybe tiny in size, but they do have very big hearts. When I got Max I was told by the previous owner that Max would get along with children and he even liked to play with their grandchildren, so I never thought that it would be an issue that I had 4 children in the home I just figured that they would have a new playmate. When getting home I thought that it would be good to do some research about the puppy that I just bought to find out their temperament and all that, something I have to admit I should have done before I even purchased him. I got to reading things online that said that you should never get a Jack Russell if you have children under the age of five in the household. This worried me because at the time I had an 11 month old and a 3 year old in the house. I was afraid that it was not going to work even though Max showed great affection towards my 11 month old when he entered the house. I was afraid that I would have to get rid of a dog that I just purchased because of this because I thought it could be something that I could not control in the dog. I found that I was wrong and that are something’s that I could do for Max and the younger children to be able to stay under one roof.

Max loved to sleep right next to my 11 month old and he would spend his time looking to see were the baby was. I think this was him bonding right away with my son and even today my son Travis is one and they are the best of friends. I started off right away teaching Max what the word down in our house was, which was basically not for him to jump up on anyone. Max learned this right away, and the reason for teaching him this at a young age was mainly because when Travis started to walk I did not want our dog jumping all over him and knocking him down. This is one thing that I noticed Jack Russell’s do to show who is boss in the house and I did not want him doing it to a young child, so I made sure to let him know that I was boss in the house and I would not let him get away with this. I also taught Max the word gentle, so that he would know that when he is doing something that if I said gentle he would calm down and be careful. I pretty much taught him this one when we would be playing around that if was biting down a little too hard for my liking that I would say gentle and he would ease up. This is something that he picked up quickly.

Now Max was not the only one that I had to train in this processes on trying to be able to keep a Jack Russell in my home with my children. I had to teach the children that this is a dog that does not like to be rough house with, that it is ok to pet him and play with him but never to pull on his tail or ears and never to tug on his fur. My kids are not high strung and they actually listened to me very well when I told them this. They would play catch with him and run outside, but they never were rough with him. This worked well and it helped the children to understand that he is still a playful dog you just have to be careful with him. I did not really let Max around Travis except when he wanted to lay down and go to sleep and I think this was a benefit to both Max and Travis. Travis is now one and I do let him go around Max, but I just tell him careful and he will slowly pet Max’s back. Travis also loves to give Max his toys and I think Max likes this as well, Max is not really protective his toys but because I have told him to be gentle when he is around Travis I say this a lot and he understands.

Needless to say it is possible for younger children to live with a Jack Russell, but you have to be vigilant on training this dog as well as the children. If you have children that already show signs that they like to rough house with animals then I would not suggest get a Jack Russell, but both child and dog can be trained.

Here are something’s that you should really consider before even adopting or purchasing this breed of dog. They are not like some dogs that are just a good lap dog they are much more than this. You need to consider that these dogs were bred to hunt and therefore are classed as a working dog.

Time- This is something that is very important to these dogs. They can gain separation anxiety if you are away from the home for long periods of time and also they can find their own sense of entertainment when you are gone which is something that we quote as being destructive. If you spend most of your day outside of the home this is not the breed for you. They need to be trained regularly so that they learn the tools they need to get along with you in the home. This does not come natural you cannot expect to have a dog know what you want from them if you are never home to show them.

Children- You need to know that these dogs are generally hyper all their lives no matter what their age, so do not think that just because you get an older Jack Russell that you are not going to get a hyper one. You need to consider if you have younger children under the age of 5 that do not know how to respect the dog and its boundaries. Jack’s are known to be very protective of their things, and so the child cannot be grabbing at their toys or food. This is not to say they will bite, but you might not want to chance it. Also these dogs are very sensitive and do not like to rough house like some of the other breeds of dogs. They are not found of having their hair pulled on or their tail, but then again not very many dogs are. If you do not have a child that is old enough to know that this sort of thing cannot be done with this breed of dog, then that is something else to consider.

Space- Space is a big issue with these dogs, they need plenty of room to run and be able to get out and get some exercise daily. This does not mean that you have to have a house with a huge yard, but it is ideal for these dogs. They need to maintain exercise everyday to be able to stay healthy. If you do live in a house with a yard then it is best to get a fence, do not just let your Jack Russell run free, Jack’s are known to dart away from their owners because of something that they spot that they want to chase.

The best thing that you can do is be considerate of the dog and know that if you get a Jack Russell these are some of things that He/She will need and if you cannot provide them then you should look into another breed of dog.

This blog is mainly a tribute to my dog Max. We have had him a little over a year and we have had our ups and downs. The way I came about getting a Jack Russell was not really like some people would have thought. My husband had said to me that he never wanted to get a dog and so I just kept nagging at him because I was raised with dogs my whole life and so I really wanted my children to experience this. We already had two cats, two parakeets and a fish and so I was at first kind of scared to get a dog, but I knew if I waited any longer my husband would not give me the ok, so I started looking that day. My husband said that he did not want a large dog that small or medium in size would be alright and that is mainly because of younger son, he did not want a large dog that would be jumping all over him. I have to admit that I did not at the time do any research on a Jack Russell and really had no idea what one was.

How I Found Max

I was looking through the local online newspaper and I had seen someone post that they had two Jack Russell’s for sale a male and a female and then only lived about 10 miles from me. I was interested mainly because said that they would only grow to be about medium in size. I called the guy up right away and he said that I could come and look at the puppies that day. So I went and picked up my mom and we went to the town to see them. She had warned me that terriers were a hyper breed of dog, but I did not care because I had 4 children hyper was nothing to me.

Seeing Max For The First Time

When I first saw Max it was instant love at first sight, I knew that this was the dog that I wanted to take home. The previous owners lived on a farm like I did so I thought that our home would be perfect in size. He was running around pulling small tree branches around the yard and chasing after balls. I thought wow he is playful, but boy I did not know the half of it. I did ask the previous owner if he would good with children and he told me that yes he would that he had grandchildren come over all the time to play with the dogs and so I took him home.

My Husbands Reaction

My husband is a truck driver and was out on the road when I bought him. I had sent him pictures of Max so that he knew what he looked like. He was kind of shocked at first because I had went and bought the dog so fast, but once he got home he to feel in love with Max and has a close bond with the dog now, that I think he never thought that he would have with a dog.