For example, the paper identifies herding breeds, such as Kelpies or border collies, as characterised by high “non-social fear”, which is fear of environmental stimuli such as loud noises, wind or vehicles. Terriers, such as Jack Russells, are characterised by high predatory chasing. And scenthounds, such as Beagles, by low trainability.
Genes and dog breed personality
OK, nothing too, radical there.
And finally, this year we learned that dogs’ eyes actually well up with tears when they are reunited with their owners, an oxytocin-driven reaction that seems to spark humans’ caregiving behavior.
but I didn’t see this coming.
The problem with Jack Russells is that they look in a mirror and see a Rottweiler. We were given an old Jack Russell whose owner could no longer care for him as she was in a nursing home. Friends volunteered to walk him several times a day, but the sitters were scared of him for good reason and he had to go. We’ve had him for 3 years. His owner died at age 108. Once while walking him at the nursing home, a resident saw Toby on the elevator and asked “Is that a Jack Daniels?” “No, but he may be full of it.” was the response. Is a Jack Russell ever completely housebroken? Not in our experience. He has learned to live with our two Brittanys but one of them schooled him as to who was the boss and it wasn’t him. After almost 3 years, he still gives her a wide berth and she tolerates him–barely. Gil