Breed of the Week: Jack Russell Terrier

Energy.  High energy. Those are the first words I think of when someone tells me they have a JRT or we are seeing one as a patient.


Now most of these dogs are very nice and easy to work on if...IF...you can get them to sit still!! Good luck.


They are very sturdy little dogs. They are also considered to be good family dogs, though they can be strong willed so an owner must be the alpha dog or the cutie will take more than an inch with them.

They do not have too many health issues. The main few I've seen are:
1. Luxating patellas
2. Legg Perthes - a degenerative disease of the femoral head


Below is a photo of an x-ray of a Yorkshire Terrier with this:

The femoral head on the left hand side is being destroyed and is not a nice pretty ball sitting in the acetabulum. This causes pain so we went in and removed the femoral head and smoothed the edges of the remaining bone. Remember - this  is really the only orthopedic surgery I do. This is a common condition in toy/small breed dogs and some cats.