Jack Russells for hunting

I bet a JRT would do fairly well for you, but I would not have thought of them as duck retrievers. Interesting.

Wow, I love JRT's and they are little dogs with big dog attitudes. You really need to know this breed in order to have one that is controllable. The saying goes, there are two ways JRT's die, one is by getting it by a bigger dog cause they just don't back down or by a car because they love to run. If you are not a experienced with training I would tell you to get a different dog. I have always been amazed at the African safaris I watch and they have JRTS they use to help track and these dogs are as quiet as can be, usually Jacks bark all the time. A lab is a great do all dog, hard to beat for a upland dog. Good luck if you go with the JRT but make sure you research before buying.

Some Jack Russel's can have more energy than you can ever exercise out of them. I have some friends who briefly had a Jack. The Jack ran 5-10 miles every morning with the daughter who was training for cross-country, walked about the same distance with the mother, as she did her walk around the property (both everyday), then ran around with the father and brothers when they did chores that didn't involve animals or mowing. The Jack still went stir crazy, as they would put him in a good sized locked yard when he wasn't with someone. Eventually the Jack chewed its way to freedom and ran off. I can't really imagine exercising a non-working dog any more than that.

Delete.

A JR will do all you desire and quite a bit more.

An old fellow that hunted alone on a deer lease I once was a member of used them exclusively to hunt wild hogs. He'd ride the roads in our club till he found a track.....turn out the JR's and it usually wasn't long before they bayed one up.....Usually he ran 3 to 5 dogs.....walked in to the hog and killed it with one head shot with a .22. I never saw one of those little fireballs hurt by a hog, but on occasion some of our walkers would get on one a get cut pretty badly.

Another fellow, again of some years, used a pair he had for squirrel dogs....they'd tree and follow visually till he got a shot.

Damn good dogs.

Keep looking!

Any of the Terrier breeds would make a fine small game dog....we had a couple miniature Schnauzers that were great hunters. Marriage is full of compromises, wife wanted house dogs, I wanted hunting dogs....fortunately neither dog knew the difference. Besides Terrier breeds don't shed.

Look up Mountain Fiests and Mountain Curs. Then compare them to the JRTs.

I've had two JRT's and they can be quite the dogs. My first one lasted over 17 yrs and was a great dog all her life, my present one is almost 2 and still a nut case because off all her energy. If you get one as a pup, you have to be prepared for the energy level they have. I found they start to settle down to a good level after about 10 yrs.
In my experience my JRT's won't tolerate any other critter in the yard unless it's another dog they want to play with. Nothing is safe in my yard from a lizard on up....except for the toads and I expect that's just because they must taste really bad.
Very intelligent animals, but you will have to have a firm hand and establish dominance over them at a very early age.

Terrier breeds are natural killers with small animals. I had a stray 30 lb. mutt come by one day, nobody claimed her. She was mostly terrier and loved to kill squirrels and coons. After 2 years of 'force fetch' she finally started retrieving ducks. Not long afterwards, a truck killed her.
Terriers have to be doing something all the time .. even if it shortens their lives.

Jack Russell's are great dogs. Also hunt with a guy who has a Jagdterrier for a blood trailing dog that does good. My dads lap dog is our blood trailing dog and he is an unusual concoction for a tracking dog. He is half dauschund and half Yorkie lol. I swear though he is good he found about 15 deer for other people so far. He ain't afraid to jump on a cripple either, I've had to drag him off of two bucks for the hunters to finish them off. He is a feisty little mutt for sure


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I've had several Jack russels over the years. My last one, a long legged JR. came with me on hundreds of deer hunting trips and died at the age of 18 years old. Any bigger dog was far game to him and once upset the neighbours by hanging of the throat of their show Afgan hound. Great characters. Try ratting with them, better sport is hard to find

Had a JRT as our tracking dog in south africa. It went after anything once that shot rang out. Had a warthog run about 100 yards through the thickest bush I've ever hunted in. Within seconds the dog came back with blood on her nose from the pig. Fantastic dog

Hey tract optics, every JRT I have seen watching African safaris are calm and quiet which is the exact opposite of JRT's I see here in the states. How do you all get them the way?

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This is my JRT. She was guarding me from critters while I was out in the shop loading in this picture. My 12 year old daughter has taught her to do all sorts of things. She is very intelligent and as others have said a natural at patrolling and killing small critters and pest. She's very proud when she kills something and has to show it off to everyone in the family to get praised. Lol. Best dog I've ever owned by far!

My neighbors have a Jack Russell, and I have a Jack Russell/Whippet (think mini greyhound) mix. Those two can keep any critters away from the yard. The only thing is that they require TRAINING.

JRTs tend to be dog aggressive, and have a bonzai attitude that can get them cut up by some game. Other small terriers are a bit better at the job of drawing a groundhog or badger, they don't dive in as fast and you don't have as many sutures and vet bills.

I am admittedly prejudiced, but an Airedale Terrier, from a hunting kennel, is a great swiss-army-knife of a dog. Make a game of fetching, they will be good at it. NO force-fetching, being terriers they will push back if forced. They can flush (they really like that game), or will hold to your side if you tell them. All terriers were originally bred to hunt independently, so training takes some effort, but in the end you have a smart hunting and family dog.

Again, you have to look to kennels that raise them for the hunt and not the show ring. Show dogs are too high strung. But the good kennels raise them for prey drive, smarts, and companionship - the Airedale belongs at your feet by the fireplace when not at work.

To repeat myself, I would not recommend a JRT - a "compliant" JRT is a rareity. You'll do better with an Airedale - best dogs I have ever had, hope to go to my grave with a yardful (and am not trying to hurry to the grave).

Check out Hunting and Working Airedales: http://huntingworkingairedales.com/

I hunt rabbits with a good friend and he runs a pack of 5 some short legged beagles and beagle jack russell mix dogs. Been hunting them for a long time the 2 mixed dogs are amazing. My friend boasts they could find rabbits in the Walmart parking lot.

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob

Jim Killem with the first live deer he ever saw. Ran it down after the shot. Now does this for every deer I take. Pushes brush and tall grass for bunnies and fox , whether for the running-dogs or to shotgun.
Goes to ground or up hollow logs to push fox out, with enthusiasm. Kills them if he can corner them (he is a little big in the chest for good den work. Trees anything he sees up there.
Good company and goes almost everywhere with me. Not unusually aggressive with other dogs, although somewhat possessive of his prey.

Downsides.... Difficult to keep close when hunting, and becomes completely deaf when down a foxhole. E-collars are a solution to that.

If you get a Jack , be aware that they are high-drive dogs. Make sure that you get to see the parents, and see them work. You don't train a Jack to go to ground. You just refine and direct the instincts that it has. Don't get me wrong... The CAN be trained, but it takes some patience and discipline

It is said that few make old bones. When young and silly they get run over. When old and deaf they get run over. In between, they pick fights with snakes. (Usually a dead heat given the lethality if the local wriggle-sticks). My last old bitched was still hunting at 13, and was killed by a machine that she climbed into while looking for mice.

It's easy to snake-proof your dog if you have an e-collar. I was approached to pay $50 to attend a "clinic" to teach how to snake-proof a dog. The teacher used a snake and an e-collar.
I caught a couple of snakes and zapped my dog when she tried to tangle with them. I did it twice and she wasn't going to go within 20 ft. of a snake afterwards.

A year later I did it again .. just to be sure. Worked like a charm and I saved $50.

Ok, here is a question for you JRT owners. With many breeds getting one gender is better in that breed for different tasks. So, with Jacks is one gender better than the other to own? At efemales better with other dogs or are males? What about kids? And which take to training better?

I've had quite a few terriers and I wouldnt go with the JRT. IMHO the Smooth Fox Terrier is a better and hardier hunting breed. Its about 1 1/2 times the size of the standard JRT and has more of a hunting instinct and takes commands better. Same overall look with a longer snout.

We bred and sold JRT's for many years. Dozens of them. Some comments;

They come with short or long legs. Both are correct for the breed.

They have either smooth coat or wire hair coat. Both are correct for the breed.

They are used for fox hunting in England. I have see them carried by the rider on horseback until a fox is spotted. The rider turns the dog loose and the chase begins.

They are often called "clowns in dog suits." They are a fun, entertaining dogs.

They are like having a permanent 5 year child around.

They like to go to ground. Ours are much better mousers than the dang cats we have. We had a short legged female we worried about losing if she went down a hole without us seeing where she was. However our other JRT's would have probably told us where she was as they like to hunt together.

Oh I have better mention they are hard on yards when after moles, burrowing mice and squirrels. They can hear them digging and moving underground and will dig holes to catch them. There is nothing like seeing three JRT's working together digging holes to catch a mole. Good reason to live in the country. We don't worry about occasional holes.

They are totally fearless hence leading to shorter lifespans (and trips to the vet to get sewed up).

They are loyal. The male we currently have is mainly my wife's pet. Wherever she is he is close by.

They make great family dogs. See previous comment about permanents 5 year olds. Young children and JRT's go together like bread and butter.

They are great watchdogs.

They are always ready to go.

None the ones we have raised and owned have been aggressive.

They like exercise.

They love to hunt. We live in the country and they love being outside hunting on our property including a skunk once (PHEW!). It was a good thing it was summer cause he spent the next three days outdoors and tomato soup bath before he could finally come in the house.

They hate snakes. I recently had a small rattlesnake crawl out while I was moving haybales. While I was armed i didn't want to shoot at that close of range. While I was looking for a hoe our female JRT stepped in, grabbed it before the snake could strike and killed it.

Our male JRT believes that the only good snake is a dead snake. Harmless or not he sees it he kills it!

You just can't have one. They do better as pairs.

They get along well with other breeds. My wife brought a terrier mix rescue dog a few months ago and he is bff with our male JRT.

JRT's think they are people.