How to occupy and keep a Jack Russell terrier happy

United States
July 20, 2007 12:42pm CST
Always ALWAYS have at least 24 tennis balls. Keep a plastic pool in your backyard and a reinforced hose. If you don't have a reinforced hose your JRT will tear it apart. Spend the extra money. You'll be very glad you did. A Jack Russell terrier loves the action of the spray coming out of the nozzle. He/she will run and jump and play for hours with this kind of setup. It will be more than you can handle, but you'll have such fun with them that you won't want it to end. Tennis balls are a MUST. A Jack Russell terrier who doesn't like to play ball is an IMPOSTER! They love to run and fight for the ball (if you have two JRTs) and the fun will last until they want to lay down. That can be 10 minutes to half an hour.
2 responses
mande143
@mande143 (20)
• United States
20 Jul 11
YES! Tennis balls are a MUST! My granddaughter was playing with her tennis ball and Roper (my JRT) decided it was going to be his and he grabbed it, ran around in circles then came back and threw it back to her. She giggled, picked it up and threw it into the other room. Roper retrieved it and brought back. This went on for a long time until they BOTH were exhausted! But a rope toy is different, you MUST play tug-o-war with him. And when he's ready to play something else with it, he'll drop it at my feet, push my leg so I pick it up and throw it for him to go get!
Magene
@Magene (103)
• United States
25 Aug 08
Yes! My Jack tears the neon yellowish skin off every single tennis ball in the house. Unfortunately, we have to be careful because she eats it. She, of course, is FULL of energy, so constant play and exercise is a MUST. :) Eventually, she just snuggles up beside me or on my lap and it makes me so happy that not only is she calm but she snuggles.