Irish terrier

[Purplewoofer]

Does anyone have one of these? Would love to know what they are like in the home and with other dogs and pets. We currently have a Jack Russell so are used to terriers

 

[Tinytom]

Irish terriers are quite rare around here ...i think it depends where you get one from ...working strain or show ....
We have always had jack russells alongside our lurchers 40yrs + we have one rescue who we adopted at 1 yr old ...who has a very high prey drive and one who we got as a 12 week old pup from working stock who has no prey drive
Now and again an Irish terrier comes into rescue and they have all been fab dogs ...
I think like with most terriers socialising with other dogs from an early age is a must ....

 

[Finsky]

Irish terriers are quite rare around here ...i think it depends where you get one from ...working strain or show ....
We have always had jack russells alongside our lurchers 40yrs + we have one rescue who we adopted at 1 yr old ...who has a very high prey drive and one who we got as a 12 week old pup from working stock who has no prey drive
Now and again an Irish terrier comes into rescue and they have all been fab dogs ...
I think like with most terriers socialising with other dogs from an early age is a must ....

Yep...I don't have experience with IT's n neither other than met few over the years and I know of one that is retired show dog....can't really call it much of a terrier in behaviour wise..good looking dog spoiled !
What impression I always get from ITs is that they are more of their own dogs and mixing with other dogs is something they rather keep away from...not in a nasty way but those I've met had almost 'toffee nose' attitude for a humble smaller cousins..'so beneath me to bother...' I haven't met any nasty or snappy ones, just not interested nobody else but their own owners....so I suspect they are family/owner oriented. Never the less, they are beautiful terriers and head turners when you see one trotting about. I'm sure if the IT is brought up to encourage their terrier ways, they can be quite a experience to witness...but all I've seen are more of placid pet types so it is hard to judge other than their general appearance.

 

[Hemlock]

A friend of mine used to breed them. They are typical terriers and as has been said, not ones that want to mix with other dogs. They are smart and trainable, there's a bit of coat care needed, and whether it's a good idea to keep one with another terrier and other pets in a domestic set-up - hmmm. It might work with certain individuals, but having lived with terriers myself, I wouldn't ever keep more than one at a time. It works with terriers that live in individual kennels and are worked, but for pets, more than one terrier getting on well is an exception rather than a rule.

Would I have one? Oh yes! But only one.

 

[JudyN]

My cousin had one. He was a little reactive around Jasper (though they only met when Jasper was an adolescent), and also had a habit of running off and doing his own thing on walks (causing my cousin to miss my brother's wedding when he did a disappearing act when being walked by the dogsitter!).

This is just one dog of course and I don't know how typical he was.

Jasper is about 1/8 IT. We blame all his naughty bits on his IT genes but that might be doing the breed a disservice

 

[Tinytom]

My ex husbands uncle wife always had 6 or 7 jack russells at a time only ever one dog amongst bitches ...she was a nurse in the PDSA and would bring all the terriers home that were going to be PTS just for being terriers .....they never had children or visiting children and lived in a tiny one bedroom bungalow but they had land they went to twice daily and ran most of the day ....i never knew any kind of fights that went on with the terriers. ..
But i have 2 neutered males and most of time they rub along harmoniously now and again they will have a fight and the only way to separate them is throw water over them ...it sounds horrendous when they do fight and there has never been any actual damage but in hindsight i would have had a male and female